Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies
by shanejayell
Summary: Different choices lead to a changed world for Shinji Ikari and the cast of Evangelion!
1. Launch One!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch One!

"Damn, damn damn!" Misato Katsuragi swore as she swung the little car into a dangerous turn. "I am so late!" she whimpered.

The plan had looked so simple just this morning. She would go out and get Shinji Ikari, then take him right back to NERV headquarters. They'd brief him on the Angels and explain Evangelion to him then hit him with the sales pitch: the opportunity to pilot Evangelion. She was sure they could sell him on it, especially if they kept the Commander away from Shinji at first.

Then of course it all went straight to hell.

An Angel was on it's way here and they weren't prepared, not really. No healthy pilot, the UN forces nearly useless against the Angel and Shinji coming to a city with no active transport because of the emergency shut-down. So Misato grabbed her car and bolted, hitting the streets and praying that she could reach Shinji before the Angel arrived.

Misato looked down at the folder sitting on the seat beside her then back out to the road. Shinji looked like a nice kid, a bit repressed but nice in his school photo. The delicate face oddly suited the casual T-shirt, though she did find herself wondering why the kid wasn't dressed in uniform. 'Wish I had more time, I barely looked through the file yet,' Misato thought glumly.

The car hit a bump and sailed up into the air a moment before hammering down so hard her teeth rattled. "There goes the suspension," she muttered, thinking despairingly of all the payments that she still had to make on it. Her cellphone rang and she fumbled with it, "Yes?"

"Have you found Shinji yet?" Ritsuko Akagi's voice was crisp, but there was real concern in her tone of voice. She could almost imagine the blonde scientist standing there, her hands hidden in the pockets of that white labcoat she usually wore.

"I'm on my way to the train station now," Misato answered as she steered with one hand on the wheel, the other holding the phone to her ear, "should be there in a few moments."

"You may not have the time," Ritsuko answered seriously, "the UN forces are barely delaying the Angel. It's going to be walking the streets of Tokyo-3 soon and I don't want you there."

"We can't leave Shinji out here all alone," Misato answered, "but as soon as I grab him I'll be heading back, I promise."

"Him?" Ritsuko sounded confused, "Misato, you didn't read the file..."

"I looked through it," Misato swung the car around a corner, clipping a sign, "besides, I think this is all just a bit too much of a coincidence."

"The Angel attacking us now, with Shinji here..." Ritsuko murmured, "you think that the Angel is aware of Shinji, somehow?"

"I hope not. I see him," Misato exclaimed excitedly as she slammed on the brakes and hung up with a fast, "see you later, Ritsuko!" The car skidded to a stop and she flung the passenger door open as she yelled to him, "Get in!"

The slim figure in T-shirt and pants blinked at her in confusion, "What?"

"Get in here now!" Misato barked out, trying to put all of the command that she could into her tone of voice.

Just then the street shook, almost as if a giant foot had struck it, then the sound of a boom roared over them. "Right," Shinji dived inside even as Misato slammed the door shut behind him and raced off, stomping on the gas pedal. "Miss Katsuragi, right?" Shinji asked nervously.

Misato nodded crisply. "Sorry I'm so late but I ...," Misato started only to trail off once she got a good look at her passenger. The photo had been deceptive, hiding the long ponytail and concealing the delicate curve of breasts beneath the white shirt. "You're a girl?" she blurted out.

"Ah, yes," Shinji blinked, her expression clearly quizzical. "Is that a problem?" she asked Misato tentatively.

"Sorry," Misato turned her eyes back to the road as her thoughts raced. 'Oh hell,' she mused, 'I sent her that photo of me in that bathing suit, too....'

"What's going on?" Shinji asked as attack helicopters roared by overhead.

"Oh hell," Misato breathed as the figure moved between the buildings off in the distance. It looked like a parody of a human being, a black skinned, eagle beaked figure shambling through the city, ignoring weapons fire and everything else that they could throw at it.

"What is that?" Shinji squeaked.

"Something we don't want to mess with right now," Misato muttered as they raced away, the whine of the car's engine showing the strain it was under. Out to the edges of the city they ran, Misato concentrating on putting distance between them and the Angel.

"Why are we stopping?" Shinji asked as the car pulled over.

Misato produced a pair of binoculars from the glovebox, gazing back towards the Angel that was moving through the city. "We need to know what's going on," she answered, magnifying the view of the Angel. It took her a moment to realize that the aircraft were moving away from the Angel, zipping off as fast as possible.

"What's wrong?" Shinji asked, the young woman noticing her tensing up.

"They're going to use an N2 mine," Misato murmured, eyes wide. She turned to grab Shinji, forcing her down even as she yelled, "Duck!"

BOOM!

The sky went pure white over the Angel, a mushroom cloud rising up over where it had been standing. The shockwave rapidly rippled outward, hammering at the car and sending them rolling until they thumped to a stop on the side of the car. There was a moment of silence, the car rocking slightly while dust and smoke hung in the air.

"Are you all right?" Shinji asked, the young woman awkwardly hanging there in her seat held in by her seatbelt.

Misato shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. "Yeah, I think so," she answered, reaching for her seatbelt, "how about you?" She unclipped it and then thumped down to the side door, whimpering softly, "Owee."

Shinji managed to get free a little better, gripping the seat as she unclipped. "My ears are ringing," she conceded as they crawled out of the battered car, "but I'm fine."

"Unlike my poor car," Misato said, looking over the car mournfully. 'Definitely going to owe money on this,' she thought, running through all the repairs it was going to need.

Shinji looked back towards the city, her expression worried. "Do you think they stopped that thing?" she turned back to ask.

"I doubt it," Misato said frankly, "which means we need to get out of here soon." She walked over to the car and braced herself to push, "Care to give me a hand?"

"Right," Shinji hurried over to help.

Together they pushed and rocked the small car, eventually managing to get the wheels back onto the ground. Rummaging around in the back Misato found some duct tape and roughly reattached the front fender then swiped some car batteries from a nearby store to get them the juice they were going to need to get going.

"Are you sure this is legal?" Shinji asked.

"I'm a government official," Misato waved it away casually as she continued, "and this is an emergency situation."

Shinji gave her a skeptical look as they entered the darkness of the tunnel, "I don't think the store owner is going to buy that."

Misato had to smile at that, feeling oddly glad this Shinji had some nerve. "You're not as cute as I thought you were," she said with a slight smile as they moved onto a specially built conveyer belt. The car was carried on through a heavy metal door even as Shinji looked around her, wide eyed.

"What is this place?" Shinji asked as the car came to rest in a large cradle that swiftly carried them downwards.

Misato took a folder and passed it over to her, "We're in the headquarters of the United Nations special agency, NERV."

"NERV?" Shinji echoed as she took the folder, looking through it curiously.

"We were founded by the United Nations with one purpose only," Misato said as the car passed through the layers of armor into an open area, "to combat the Angels."

Shinji's eyes went wide as they descended, the underground construction of NERV's headquarters visible to her at last. "Wow," she exclaimed excitedly, "a real geo-front!"

Misato smiled, quietly filling in details for Shinji even as her thoughts were elsewhere. 'Can this girl do what we'll need her to do?' she wondered. 'Do we even have the right to ask this of her?' They came to a stop and got out of the car, standing on a moving sidewalk. "We'll be there before you know it," Misato said only to stop in surprise as they passed through a gate to see who awaited them.

"It took you long enough, Captain Katsuragi," Ritsuko scolded, quickly checking them both over for any sign of injury.

"Sorry, Ritsuko," Misato said with a smile, "things got kind of hectic out there."

"I know," Ritsuko said quietly.

Shinji was looking curiously between them. "Where are my manners," Misato smiled, "Shinji Ikari, I'd like you to meet NERV's head scientist Ritsuko Akagi."

"Welcome to NERV," Ritsuko gave Shinji a surprisingly gentle smile, at least for her.

"Hello," Shinji bowed slightly then plaintively asked, "what's going on?"

"You didn't explain?" Ritsuko gave Misato a look.

"Started to, but..." Misato shrugged.

"The commander wants to see us," Ritsuko said as she lead them off, "I'll explain everything I can on the way."

To be continued...


	2. Launch Two!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Two!

"You what?" Gendo Ikari asked, the black haired older man looking down at his daughter in surprise. They stood there in the holding chamber for Evangelion, the massive organic robot's head barely a few meters away from where Shinji waited.

"I'll pilot the EVA for you," Shinji answered, the black haired young woman met his eyes. "but I won't be under your command, yours or NERV."

Ritsuko gazed in surprise at the quiet young woman and wondered how things had gone so badly. 'The Commander really has a gift,' the blonde scientist thought to herself bitterly, 'for saying the wrong thing at the worst time.'

Shinji had been deathly silent when she had been brought here to the EVA cage, Ritsuko trying her best to fill in some of the gaps for the young lady. She explained NERV's purpose, some of what they knew about the Angels and told her about Evangelion.

'She wasn't thrilled,' Ritsuko thought to herself wryly, 'but I think I was selling her on it. At least, right up until Shinji's father arrived.'

"Unacceptable," Gendo answered her coldly, jerking Ritsuko back into the drama that was unfolding right in front of her.

"It's not like you have a lot of options," Shinji looked to the side where a crowd of medical personnel were gathered.

Rei Ayanami lay on the stretcher, the light blue haired young woman wrapped in bandages and face contorted with pain. Gendo had her wheeled in when Shinji first defied him, the sort of grand gesture he normally wouldn't do, then the Angel's attack rocked the base, sending Rei crashing to the ground. It had been an odd moment when Shinji knelt down there beside her, the two of them bearing a remarkable resemblance to each other.

The next attack had brought a section of catwalk down... and the impossible had happened. Unit-01 had torn it's arm free of restraints to shield the two girls, despite no entry plug or data imputs at all. It was a miracle, and something that troubled Ritsuko more than she cared to admit. 'We may think we understand and control Evangelion,' she mused, 'but we don't, not really.'

"You need me in there," Shinji waved towards EVA, her eyes flashing with barely controlled anger as she said to her father, "you yourself said that was the only reason you called me here and I need this to do it."

"When NERV was being constructed many private contractors were used," Misato spoke up, the black haired officer looking up to meet Gendo's eyes intently, "something like that could be applied to Shinji, as well."

'I don't think Shinji is going to bend in this,' Ritsuko realized as she watched father and daughter engaging in a silent battle of wills. 'Does Shinji hate him that much,' she found herself wondering, 'or is something else going on?'

Finally Gendo just nodded, a short, simple movement of his head. "Then prepare for immediate launch," he said as he began to rise on a personal elevator, "we need to stop the Angel as soon as possible."

'Thank god,' Ritsuko puffed out a sigh of relief. "Come with me, we'll get you into the entry plug," she grabbed Shinji even as she looked over to Misato and added, "I'll meet you up in the command center once we're done."

"Got it," Misato bolted, still wearing her red jacket and black dress.

"Entry plug?" Shinji asked as she hurried behind Ritsuko.

"You could think of it as the cockpit of Unit-01," Ritsuko answered as they took a lift upstairs, racing along a catwalk to the long metallic tube held in powerful steel clamps. The top was open, revealing a large chair with two stylized metallic grips on each side.

"Hope this isn't too complicated," Shinji clambered inside, settling into the seat. She grasped the two handles, squeezing them nervously, then looked up to Ritsuko with a weak smile, "I hope this isn't too complicated."

"You'll be fine," Ritsuko answered, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

The top of the plug slid down as Shinji answered, "I hope so." As her face disappeared from sight she looked so lost and alone Ritsuko's heart ached, then she was gone.

A few moments later and Ritsuko entered the command center, nodding her greetings to her sometimes assistant Maya Ibuki and Makoto beside her. Misato looked confident, somehow, standing there in her element, a leader ready to go to work. 'Too bad her army is one very scared girl inside a giant robot,' Ritsuko thought.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Misato asked her softly as she moved to Ritsuko's side, both of them looking at the image on the viewscreen of Shinji inside the entry plug.

"Just hoping we're doing the right thing," Ritsuko answered wryly.

"Now filling the Entry Plug with LCL," Maya reported as she hit a switch, almost immediately followed by a cry of alarm from Shinji.

"Just breathe normally," Ritsuko quickly said to her, "the LCL with saturate your lungs and transfer oxygen directly to your bloodstream."

Shinji puffed out a breath, bubbles flowing out into the fluid as she breathed it in, her face remarkably green. "I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered.

"Not inside the entry plug," both Misato and Ritsuko spoke up at the same time.

Gendo slid into his place behind them, the raised platform where he could see everything that went on in the control center. "It's time," he said as he watched his daughter intently, "launch Unit-01."

Ritsuko paused outside the hospital room to look inside, gazing at the girl who slept soundly in the neat bed. The washed out colors of the room made Shinji look oddly sickly, but other than some bumps and bruises she was all right.

'But it could have so easily gone the other way,' Ritsuko thought. Shinji and Unit-01 had been badly outmatched by the Angel from the start, the young woman only barely learning to move the EVA when the Angel attacked. What followed was a brutal beating, the Angel breaking Unit-01's arm before pounding on it mercilessly.

What happened next... was still being debated. The attack on EVA's head, the backlash hitting Shinji hard.... then Unit-01 had attacked. With incredible speed and savagery it had beat the Angel back, tearing right through the protective AT field the Angel erected to kill the attacker.

"How is she?" Misato asked, quietly coming up behind her.

"Recovering," Ritsuko answered, "the doctors say she'll be fine in a few days." They set off together down the hall as she quietly added, "I feel like such a liar, I told her she'd be fine."

Misato put her hand on Ritsuko's arm, "You did everything you could, both from the technical side to talking Shinji through on how to operate the EVA." They passed another room where Rei lay, the blue haired girl sleeping peacefully as she softly added, "I'm thinking of offering Shinji the spare bedroom."

Ritsuko raised her eyebrow, "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"No," Misato shrugged, "but I can't see putting Shinji with her father, either." More quietly she added, "And I don't like the idea of her being out on her own."

"You and your strays," Ritsuko said fondly.

Misato chuckled, "I've only brought one stray home, and that was a special case."

They walked to the elevator, Ritsuko hitting the button and quietly asking, "So when are you going to tell her?"

"I'll wait until Shinji agrees to move in," Misato said wryly, "it'll save time and trouble if she decides she doesn't want the room."

"I'm... home,:" Shinji said tentatively, stepping inside at Misato's urging.

"Good," the familiar voice called from the kitchen, "I'm getting dinner ready."

"I forgot to mention," Misato took Shinji's hand and tugged her down the hallway, "you're going to have another roommate here." The apartment around them was messy, but it had the look of a place where at least some effort was being put into keeping it under control.

"Dr. Akagi?" Shinji blinked as she saw the familiar blonde standing in the kitchen, peering into a bubbling pot before putting a lid on it.

"Welcome home," Ritsuko smiled at her tentatively.

"You've already been introduced," Misato moved to take Ritsuko's hand in a surprisingly intimate gesture, "but I'd like you to meet my partner, Ritsuko."

"Ah... hi?" Shinji managed weakly.

"You didn't tell her about us earlier?" Ritsuko scolded Misato gently.

"Things have been a little hectic," Misato protested.

To be continued....


	3. Launch Three!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Three!

Shinji Ikari lay back on the bed, the black haired young lady's eyes closed as she tried to collect her racing thoughts. Just this morning she had been recovering in a sterile hospital bed and now this evening she was in a new bedroom living with two other women.

A smiling Ritsuko had helped Misato and her carry all of Shinji's stuff inside, then they had introduced her to the penguin, Pen Pen. Why two women had a penguin for a pet she didn't know, but there it was, resting in the second fridge. Dinner had been quiet, then as quickly as possible Shinji had retreated to her new room.

'What am I doing here?' Shinji wondered, covering up her eyes with her arm. 'I'm just a ordinary kid, why am I being asked to do something like this?'

A flash of memory, the battle against the Angel... she remembered it all, no matter what she had told the doctors at NERV. She touched her arm, recalling the phantom pain of it being broken, then the searing agony as the Evangelion's head was pounded on. She had been barely able to get EVA-01 moving at first, and was utterly unable to fight.

She still didn't know what turned the tide in the battle, not really at any rate. The last head blow, maybe, or the anger at the situation she was in, something changed inside Shinji. Grasping the controls she had fought back, breaking free of the Angel's grip, then began to fight back. Somehow her will combined with the Evangelion to repair it's arm, then she had struck back with an unimagined fury. Ruthlessly she drove it backwards and when it tried to protect itself with some kind of force field... she tore through it like paper.

'How did I do that?' Shinji questioned. Why did she have such a feeling of... belonging, when she was inside the Evangelion? It had almost felt like those long forgotten memories of childhood, cradled in the safety of her mother's arms.

And then there was Rei... when her father had wheeled in the badly injured girl to pilot Evangelion, Shinji had been horrified. Wrapped in bandages, being hauled around on a medical bed, the blue haired Rei had met Shinji's gaze with her uninjured eye and something just clicked. Shinji refused to see her hurt any more, especially by her father.

"I'll pilot Evangelion" Shinji murmured to herself softly"if only to protect her."

In the kitchen of the apartment two women were cleaning up as they talked together quietly. Ritsuko finished washing a dish, the blonde passing it to her partner as she noted"Shinji barely said anything during dinner."

A smiling Misato took it carefully"It's not like we could sit around talking about work at the dinner table." She rinsed off the dish and put it in the rack as she said"And I doubt she'd want to talk about it, anyway."

"True" Ritsuko agreed. She smiled impishly as she teased"Not to mention Shinji was still getting over her surprise at us being a couple."

Misato rolled her eyes"I said I was sorry for not telling her, love." A bit more seriously she asked"So how's Ayanami"

"It'll be a few weeks before she's fully recovered" Ritsuko answered frankly"we'll need to rely on Shinji alone until then."

Misato sighed"Then we'd better get her into the simulator and start training, we can't rely on luck or whatever gift she has again."

Finishing up the dishes Ritsuko remarked"Do you get the feeling she isn't telling us everything that happened while fighting the Angel"

Misato took Ritsuko's hand as they went through the apartment"Yes, but can you blame her? I do think she isn't holding back information out of malice."

Ritsuko pushed open their bedroom door"Considering she seems to loathe the commander, we're lucky she's even piloting Evangelion."

"That's an understatement" Misato agreed as she followed her in"we shared a elevator with the Commander, not a word from either of them."

"Marvelous" Ritsuko sighed. They began to undress as she asked"Is there anything in her personnel file to explain it"

Misato sat on the side of the bed to slip her shoes off. "Just that he left Shinji with her Aunt and Uncle" she answered as she smoothly undressed, dumping clothes on the floor"oddly they haven't tried to contact her despite being in hospital."

"Looks like we're all Shinji has" Ritsuko sighed as they settled down on the bed together.

Misato snuggled to her side"She could be doing much worse."

The next morning Shinji woke up first, venturing into the kitchen to make some toast. The young woman blinked as she noticed the penguin looking up at her expectantly. "Yes" she finally had to ask Pen Pen.

"He just wants his morning fish" Ritsuko yawned as she wandered into the room dressed in an oversized nightshirt. She opened the fridge and got out a can of sardines, spilling them out into Pen Pen's bowl.

"Good morning Dr. Akagi" Shinji said nervously.

"Coffee, coffee" Ritsuko fumbled about in the shelves till she found her favorite mug, filling it from the pre-brewed pot. "You can just call me Ritsuko here" she took a drink"we are all living in the same house."

"I'll try" Shinji said softly.

'For someone who was so tough in Gendo's presence,' Ritsuko found herself noting, 'she sure can be shy.' Taking another drink she said"Do you mind going into NERV with us today, we're going to have to fit you with a plugsuit."

"Plugsuit" Shinji looked up at the blonde scientist curiously.

"The entry plug can pick up your thoughts and intentions" Ritsuko explained"but the plugsuit helps make it work more efficiently."

Before Shinji could answer Misato stumbled into the kitchen dressed in a very short T-shirt and panties. Opening the fridge she pulled out a can of beer, popped it open and proceeded to slam it back in one go. "Ahh, that was good" she sighed happily.

"Beer first thing in the morning" Ritsuko frowned"And in front of Shinji"

"Hey" Misato said defensively"it's a tradition! I'm just substituting beer for sake, is all." Changing the subject she asked"What were you talking about"

"Plugsuits" Ritsuko said succinctly.

Misato popped open another can of beer. "You'll need to pick out a color" she took a more conservative drink"but not red or white."

"I saw Rei in the white" Shinji looked thoughtful"is there another pilot as well"

"Asuka Soryu Langley" Ritsuko crisply offered"who's currently involved with the testing of the Unit-02 in Germany."

"Then I guess I'll take blue" Shinji dubiously examined some older bread then stuck it in the toaster"it's simpler."

"Good enough" Ritsuko nodded. She opened up the fridge then looked inside before closing it with a sigh"Remind me to go grocery shopping tonight. Who wants takeout for lunch"

"Sounds like a plan" Misato agreed. She casually snagged a piece of Shinji's toast"We'll need to get you registered for school, too."

"Doesn't the exciting life of a pilot keep me from going to school" Shinji asked hopefully.

"Sorry" Misato shook her head"Rei and Asuka go to school, you'll have to go as well."

Ritsuko looked amused, 'Nice to see she's got the normal dislike of school.' Aloud she asked"Do you have any favorite foods, Shinji"

"Huh" she looked startled.

"We are going shopping for you, too" Misato smiled"Shin-chan."

To be continued...


	4. Launch Four!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Four!

Shinji Ikari stepped out, the black haired young woman looking visibly nervous as she said, "And pilots regularly wear this?" The blue and black plugsuit hugged her slim body from head to toe, making it quite clear that Shinji was a girl.

Ritsuko Akagi smiled to herself slightly, the blonde haired scientist looking faintly amused. "If it makes you feel any better," she explained, "the plugsuit needs to be skintight to help conduct your thoughts and nerve impulses to the EVA."

"Right," Shinji was blushing faintly as she walked around the small changing room, trying to get more comfortable in the unusual clothes. She reached up to touch the two blue devices on her head, almost looking like cat's ears, and added, "I'm going to look ridiculous."

Ritsuko's lips twitched, but she didn't let herself react. "Come on," she said instead, "I think Misato wanted to see how you looked." The white labcoat she wore over the standard gray NERV uniform looked good on her, though she didn't draw as many glances as Shinji.

"Right," Shinji sighed softly, the two of them leaving the lab where Shinji had been fitted with the new set of clothes.

'Shinji seems less stubborn around me or Misato,' Ritsuko found herself thinking about what had happened earlier, 'but she's remarkably stiff necked where Gendo is concerned.' The two of them had barely talked during their walk down the hall together, just ignoring each other while Ritsuko had tried her best to make conversation.

Misato Katsuragi looked up, her eyes lighting up as she saw Ritsuko and the blonde scientist smiled back. The black haired officer shifted her glance to Shinji and grinned, "Well, at least I won't be mistaking you for a boy in that."

Shinji went beet red at that. "Gee, thanks," she sighed.

Misato got out of her chair by Ritsuko's desk to give Shinji a good look as she said, "You certainly look batter in one of those things than Ritsuko did."

"Eh?" Shinji blinked.

"Misato!" Ritsuko blurted.

Misato looked like she was fighting back a chuckle as she explained, "Ritsuko had to wear a plugsuit during the testing stages, it was pretty funny..."

A blushing Ritsuko walked over and firmly put her hand over Misato's mouth. "Love, she does not need to hear about that," she said firmly.

Shinji couldn't help but smile at that comment. There was a soft sound from the doorway and Shinji looked up to meet the most startling red eye. Rei Ayanami stood in the office doorway studying them thoughtfully, her expression oddly unreadable. Bandages still covered part of her face, her arm was in a sling, but there was an odd feeling of strength in her.

"Dr. Akagi," Rei said in her cool tones, her schoolgirl's uniform fluttering slightly from the air-conditioning, "the Commander asked to see you."

Ritsuko made a face, "Probably wants Unit-00 reactivated as soon as possible." She walked over to the door as she added, "Misato, can you get Shinji back home? This might take awhile."

"Right," Misato nodded.

Rei was about to leave as silently as she came when Shinji spoke up, "Ayanami-san?"

Turning back to look at Shinji Rei asked, "Yes?"

Shinji hesitated under her gaze then took a breath, "I'm glad to see you feeling better."

Rei stood there a moment, almost as if she was surprised by what Shinji said then quietly answered, "Thank you." Without another word she was gone.

Shinji blinked a few times once Rei was gone, her expression mildly confused. "Is Ayanami always like that?" she finally asked.

Misato smiled from where she was leaning up against Ritsuko's desk, "I'm afraid so." She pushed off and ran a hand through her hair, "Come on, let's get you changed back into street clothes, we've got other errands to get done."

"Right," Shinji said, clearly relieved to soon be out of the tight plugsuit.

"You'll get used to it," Misato chuckled. Soon Shinji was changed and sitting in the passenger side on Misato's latest car, another sleek sports model.

Shinji made an odd squeaking noise as she grabbed the dashboard, the car squealing through a tight turn. "So where to next?" she asked, keeping her eyes partially shut.

"I've got to finish registering you for school," Misato answered her as she casually kept an eye on the road, "do you want to come along?"

Shinji nodded slightly, body stiff from fear as she admitted, "I guess it would be a good idea to take a look around." Her red shirt and black skirt weren't too stylish, but Shinji wasn't too worried about making a splash anyway. 'Besides, compared to Misato I couldn't,' she admitted.

Misato was wearing a little black dress that was just this side of sinful, high on the thigh and with a plunging neckline. Along with her red jacket she made quite a image, an almost deliberate sort of sexiness that Shinji almost envied.

"What?" Misato looked at her curiously, "I don't have something on my face, do I?"

"No, no," Shinji shook her head, smiling wryly.

Misato turned back to the road, her lips curling up slightly. "Don't worry," she said confidently as they finally reached the school, "you'll fill out eventually."

Shinji felt her face go red again, but decided to keep her mouth shut as they screeched to a stop in the parking lot. Misato bounced out confidently as Shinji was peeling her cramped fingers from the dashboard, sighing in relief that they were finally there.

"I'll be inside dealing with paperwork," Misato said as she cheerfully waved to the young men and women who were staring out the windows at them, "take a look around and see what you think."

"Right," Shinji sighed, watching her stride off.

Leaning back from where the brown haired young man had nearly been hanging out the window watching Misato Toji shook his head, "God that woman is a babe."

"Out of our league," the blonde haired boy sighed.

"Aida, Toji," Hikari scolded them both, "pay attention."

"Hey, that girl is heading towards the building," Aida noted, adjusting his glasses.

"Think she's a new transfer?" Toji asked as they reluctantly turned away.

"That would be kind of strange," Hikari conceded, "most people are moving away after that last attack, not coming here."

"Hey," Aida brightened, "maybe she's the pilot of that giant robot!"

"There's no way that they'd ever put a kid into a giant robot," Toji loudly scoffed, but he did sound thoughtful.

"Oh come on," Aida protested, "you know it's been an open secret about Ayanami."

"Ayanami isn't...," Hikari hesitated before letting herself say, "exactly normal. This new girl looks pretty average."

"Yeah," Toji nodded slightly, "but if she is the pilot... I owe her."

Aida smiled to himself slightly, taking another peek at the girl who was standing out front looking nervously at the buildings, "You know, she is sort of cute."

"Then you'd better hope that she's a military otaku," Hikari muttered, "or you're going to have no chance with her."

"Hey!" Aida protested.

Toji smiled slightly, "She's got a point."

"Oh, big help you are," Aida muttered.

There was a loud clearing of a throat from the front of the classroom and all three looked up guiltily to see the teacher regarding them wearily. "Toji and Aida I can understand," he said with a dramatic sigh, "but Hikari too?"

"Busted," Toji whispered with a smirk.

"Shut up," Hikari hissed back.

To be continued...


	5. Launch Five!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Five!

Shinji Ikari bowed slightly as she was quickly introduced to the school's principal, then was excused as the older man discretely oggled Misato in her slinky dress. Absentmindedly he gave Shinji permission to look around and the young lady left, smiling wryly at Misato's easy ability to manipulate a man like him.

The building, like much of the city was new construction, and felt oddly deserted as she walked the halls, occasionally looking into windows. 'With the Angel attack I guess most of the people with good sense are leaving,' she thought, 'unlike myself.'

"What are you doing here, young lady?" a clearly annoyed voice asked.

Shinji turned to face the older man, recognizing a teacher as soon as she saw one. She handed him the pass she had been give as she said respectfully, "Just looking around, sensei."

He looked at the paper, clearly wanting something to be wrong with it. He looked up, light flashing off his glasses as he handed the sheet over as he reluctantly said, "All right, but please do not disrupt classes, young lady."

"Thank you, sir," Shinji nodded.

"Hmph," he turned and strode away just as the bell announcing lunch rang, doors sliding open even as students streamed out of the classrooms.

'Uh oh," reflexedly Shinji made her way outside, not wanting to deal with the students just yet. She smiled wryly noting that Misato wasn't back at the car yet, which meant she was still negotiating with the principal.

"Hey, you!" a boy's voice called and Shinji turned to see three figures heading over two her. The tallest was gangly, with dark brown hair while a smaller, blonde haired boy followed beside him. Along with the two boys a lighter brown haired girl paced beside them reluctantly, giving Shinji a mildly apologetic smile.

"Yes?" Shinji asked, the young lady looking at the three with mild curiosity.

"You transferring here?" the taller boy asked bluntly.

"Toji!" the girl scolded then looked over at Shinji. "Don't mind him, he just has no manners," she smiled, "I'm Hikari, this is Toji and Aida."

"Hi," Aida beamed, offering his hand awkwardly.

Shinji shook it, feeling a bit of amusement in the whole situation. "Nice to meet you," she addressed the three of them as a group. She looked over at Toji, "Yes, I'm transferring unless my guardian decides otherwise."

"Then I'll look forward to you being our classmate," Hikari said gently.

"Me, too," Aida sighed, blushing faintly.

Toji rolled his eyes at that. "You heard about the giant robot that saved the city a few nights back?" he asked, looking at Shinji thoughtfully.

Shinji played dumb, "What robot?"

Before Toji or anyone else could follow up a voice called out, "Shin-chan!" Misato strode over, both young men following her every move. She seemed not to notice the stares or Hikari's frown, "Making new friends?"

"Sort of," Shinji answered, "these are Hikari, Toji and Aida."

"Nice to meet you," she smiled, then Misato turned to Shinji. "All done, you're starting here tomorrow," she beamed.

"Are you going to be driving Shinji to school?" Aida asked a bit dazedly.

"No, we're near enough for her to walk," Misato shrugged casually.

"Too bad," Toji murmured only to have Hikari elbow him in the ribs, "ow!"

"Sorry to cut this short," Misato shrugged, "but I've got to take Shinji out shopping for school supplies." She popped the doors and climbed in, "See you later."

"It was nice to meet you," Shinji nodded hesitantly then climbed in after Misato.

"You didn't get to ask her if she was the pilot of that robot," Aida said as the cherry red sportscar swept out of the lot with style.

"You two," Hikari shook her head. "You've got to get to know her a bit, you know."

"Maybe," Toji shrugged, "but either way I have to know." He cracked his knuckles, a smile teasing his lips, "And if she is the pilot I'll pay her back in full."

Unaware that she was the topic of conversation back in the parking lot Shinji looked over at Misato, "Isn't starting classes tomorrow a bit fast?"

"NERV has a lot of pull," Misato shrugged casually, "it wasn't that hard to get you in fast." She looked over, apparently unconcerned by oncoming traffic and smiled, "I think that blonde kid was checking you out."

"Aida?" Shinji blinked, then whimpered as they nearly missed another car. "I think they'd be curious about any new girl," she shrugged.

Misato chuckled softly, "We'll see."

In NERV headquarters was a shadowy chamber, on the floor inscribed with patterns and designs as old as man. Gendo Ikari looked out at the Geofront, taking in the structures that held the buildings of the city when they were pulled underground for defensive purposes.

"Ritsuko," Gendo turned to the woman who stood in front of his desk, "how are repairs for the Unit-01 going?"

"Ahead of schedule," Ritsuko said, "we'll be ready to sortie again in only a few days."

"Unit-00?" Gendo asked.

"We're thawing it out of cryogenic storage and attempting to discover what went wrong last time," Ritsuko reported crisply. She hesitated, "Normally I'd assume that there was pilot error involved, but this is Rei we're talking about."

"Indeed," Gendo nodded.

'Ask about her,' Ritsuko silently urged the oddly impassive man standing in front of her, 'you know you want to, damn it.'

Gruffly, almost unwillingly Gendo asked, "And how is Shinji?"

"Settling in nicely," Ritsuko started.

"I meant in relation to NERV," Gendo cut her off.

Ritsuko fought not to roll her eyes. "Her training sessions in the simulator are going well," she answered crisply, "it seems that Shinji is very nearly a natural pilot."

"Unit-02 will soon be arriving from Germany," Gendo said seriously, "along with it's pilot Asuka Langley Sorryu. I want both EVAs fully operational by the time she arrives."

"Expecting another enemy attack?" Ritsuko asked him, her shoulders tensing up slightly as she wondered if Gendo has some kind of inside knowledge. 'It really wouldn't surprise me,' she thought to herself grimly.

Gendo's expression was nearly unreadable, "It's always best to be prepared, doctor."

'That was helpful,' Ritsuko thought. "Of course, sir," she agreed aloud and was soon excused.

Gendo returned to his seat, his expression contemplative. "Fuyutsuki?" he asked and a slim figure emerged from the shadowy corners of the room. He almost looked like a professor despite the NERV uniform, but his eyes were shrewd.

"Yes Gendo?" Commander Fuyutsuki asked.

"In addition to Misato and Ritsuko's reports I want surveillance maintained on Shinji," Gendo ordered crisply.

"You think she'll be targeted?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"As our only active pilot Shinji is too precious to lose," Gendo answered.

"And the fact that she resembles your wife Yui has nothing to do with it."

"Nothing at all," Gendo smiled back reluctantly.

To be continued...


	6. Interlude: Secrets and Lies

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Interlude: Secrets and Lies

Ritsuko Akagi's fingers seemed to fly across the two terminals as she worked away, the dyed blonde looking back and forth between the screens with data streaming by on both. Switching over to one hand she reached out and grabbed her cup of coffee and took a long drink, not really noticing that it had gone stone cold.

"Dr. Akagi?" Maya asked softly, the brown haired young woman walking in to the room to stand respectfully to one side, carrying in a set of reports.

"Thank you," Ritsuko didn't look away from her work, but her voice was gentle as she welcomed her in.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Maya asked curiously as the boyish young woman set the documents and disks down.

"I'm fine," Ritsuko smiled, "just finishing up some programming for the Unit 00 reactivation tests. I shouldn't be long."

"All right," Maya lingered for a moment, then reluctantly left.

After working a few minutes more Ritsuko finished up, logging out of the program then removing a disk from the drive, slipping it into a protective carrier and putting it in her white labcoat's pocket. Pressing a key on the terminal sent another command out, this time going to the complex's security system.

'That'll stop Gendo from seeing the looped images I recorded of me working away,' a smiling Ritsuko thought as she stretched tiredly, 'rather than what I was really doing. Thank goodness Maya didn't insist on staying.'

Just like every other day Ritsuko made her way over to the elevators, rising up from the underground facility of NERV to the surface, then on to the commuter train out to the apartment that she and Misato lived in. She went inside, reaching to flip on the lights then Ritsuko smiled as she felt a familiar presence inside.

"Is that you, love?" Misato called out. She looked up in greeting from where she sat at the dining room table, the black haired woman casually sorting their mail.

"Hi, love," Ritsuko answered. Gesturing Misato to silence she crossed to the kitchen and took a small device from where they had hidden it, activating a switch and instantly shutting down any bugs within one hundred feet.

"Is that necessary?" Misato blinked in alarm.

Ritsuko took the disks out of her pocket as she said to her excitedly, "I think I've got it, or at least some of it."

Hearing that Misato got up, her eyes narrowed in thought. "Then we'd better check it out," she said seriously.

"Lets," Ritsuko agreed and both women headed to the computer they kept in the bedroom. "I downloaded the entirety of one of Gendo's private memory archives," she revealed, "but other than that I don't know what's in it."

"I can't believe the man is hiding his secure files on the Magi," Misato said as she led the way into their bedroom.

Ritsuko activated the computer, waiting a moment for it to start up before sliding the disks in. Mildly she said, "Considering the pure volume of data in the Magi he probably figured that no one would be able to find the archive."

Antivirus and decryption programs activated, scanning the content of the disk and going to work. "And he doesn't know that we're trying to find out what's really going on," Misato added quietly. She looked at Ritsuko fondly, "What convinced you to listen to Kaji, by the way?"

Ritsuko tapped the keyboard, unleashing a second series of decryption systems. "Probably getting a look at the real budget," she confessed, "and seeing the sheer amount of money and resources he's plugging into black projects with no one overseeing him."

"I still remember the first time you showed me Adam," Misato murmured thoughtfully as they waited for the computer to finish, "seeing that thing impaled on the cross beneath NERV... it felt like my blood ran cold."

"Tell me about it," Ritsuko agreed grimly.

There was a soft chime as the programs finished their work and both women leaned forward as the archive opened automatically. A series of pop-up windows appeared on the screen, each one for a different section of the archive, and they began to scan them intently.

"His personal journal," Misato noted, "a report to or from something called SEELE and private correspondence between Gendo and Fuyutsuki."

"Which do you want to look at first?" Ritsuko asked.

"The journal," Misato said after a moment's thought, "if he really thinks it's private he might spill something important."

"Got it," Ritsuko clicked on the journal, the two quickly scanning it. Much of the entries were things they already knew, including the development of the Evangelion Units and the various negotiations involved with NERV, but there were interesting details imbedded in there.

Misato blinked as a very personal reference smacked her between the eyes, "Gendo tried to get you to sleep with him?"

"I did tell you about it," Ritsuko said mildly.

"Maybe, but it's extremely creepy reading it from his point of view," Misato growled out. She scowled, "That slimy little..."

Ritsuko gently put her hand on her lover's arm, "Trust me love, you have nothing to worry about." A smile, "Even if I wasn't committed to you, knowing he had slept with my mom too would have put me off."

"Creep," Misato nodded. Her eyes widened as she read a passage, "Gendo ordered the sabotage of the JA prototype?"

Ritsuko nodded thoughtfully, "They never could explain why that robot went out of control during the test... or why the reactor overloaded."

"But why?" Misato asked, "The machine was clunky, even if they could have gotten it operational it couldn't match Evangelion."

"Maybe, but I doubt Gendo would take the chance," Ritsuko sighed.

"Guess you're right," Misato agreed.

Choosing to close the journal for now they scanned the file on SEELE, but neither could make heads or tails of the rambling document. "What is the Alternate?" Ritsuko pointed to one passage where it almost seemed like Gendo was arguing with the mysterious person or group, "And why do they need Adam's DNA for?"

"Do you really expect me to answer that?" Misato blinked, sitting back and rubbing her eyes.

"We know Rei has Adam's DNA..." Ritsuko mused. Her eyes narrowed, "Are they trying to create another clone?"

"Why," Misato asked, "we already have Rei?" She chuckled humorlessly, "Hell, we have a bin full of them in the basement."

Ritsuko made a face, "Part of Gendo's damn dummy plug project." She shook her head firmly and got back on topic, "Maybe creating a clone for a new purpose? They could be trying to communicate with the Angels."

"Would be nice to know why they're attacking," Misato conceded.

"Well, let's see what the professor has to say," Ritsuko murmured as she clicked the mouse on the third window.

Just then they heard the door open and Shinji call out, "I'm home!"

"Shit," Misato quickly closed the windows and popped out the disk.

Ritsuko quickly concealed the disk then she and Misato hurried out of the bedroom just as Shinji came around the corner. A faint blush colored the young woman's face, "Uhm, if you want I can go out for awhile."

"Hmm?" Ritsuko blinked.

Misato chuckled faintly as she realized what sort of assumption Shinji had come to. "Not today," she smiled, "but I may ask later."

"No problem," Shinji headed into her room.

"What was that about?" Ritsuko frowned, most of her mind still occupied with what they had been reading.

Misato laughed, "I think Shinji believes she interrupted us in the act, so to speak."

To be continued...


	7. Launch Six!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Six!

"Pilots, are you ready?" Misato cried from the command center, watching as the massive, diamond shaped Angel worked to bore into the Geofront above NERV. The last few days had been crazy, their attempt to register Shinji for school was like a dream.

"No," Shinji answered honestly from Unit-01, "but I'll try."

Rei Ayanami's voice was calm, her expression nearly blank on her side of the split screen. "Ready, commander."

"Remember," Misato reminded Shinji, "the beam cannon you're using has a cool down time of thirty seconds, if you miss you may not get another shot."

"Way to ratchet up the pressure," Shinji murmured, the young woman gulping softly. She took a breath, "And Ayanami's shield?"

"It's tough but it won't last long against the Angel's beam," Misato said.

Rei's voice was quiet but firm, "I will protect you."

Ritsuko raised her eyebrows in surprise, looking over to where Misato stood with her in NERV's command center. Clearly she was surprised to hear such intensity of emotion coming from Rei. Misato shrugged, unsure what to say.

"Begin operation," Misato ordered, "Shinji, all the power of Japan is in your hands!"

On the hillside at the very edge of range Shinji had the Unit-01 laying prone, the experimental beam rife aimed towards the Angel hovering over NERV and Tokyo. Deliberately targeting NERV, like it knew where it's enemy was... Shinji took a deep breath, feeling a twinge of pain reminding her of her last run in with the Angel.

Launching Unit-01 they sent Shinji up into the city to battle the Angel... a big mistake. Almost as soon as she popped up the Angel fired, turning the chest of the EVA into molten slag, the shock lashing through Shinji too. The medics told her that her heart had actually stopped, hanging for a moment between life and death...

Shinji shook her head, trying to banish those thoughts. 'Focus,' she thought, using the sights to focus the cross hairs. The systems would compensate for distance, the curve of the Earth, all that, but she had to make the shot correctly. She lined it up, checked the charge meter, took a deep breath... then fired!

"Cheers!" Misato cried, raising her can of beer jubilantly.

"Cheers," Ritsuko agreed, tapping her can even as Shinji and Rei tapped cans of soda, too.

"One shot," Misato crowed, "you did it with just one shot!"

Shinji blushed, the young woman looking down uncomfortably. "It was just luck," she shook her head firmly.

"No, it wasn't," Ritsuko said, "you nailed it."

"True," Rei noted, sipping her soda.

Misato nodded firmly even as she passed the take-out box of rice over to Ritsuko. "You did good," she agreed, "even Fuyutsuki said so."

"I doubt Gendo did, though," Shinji noted as she sipped her drink.

"Thanks love," Ritsuko said to Misato even as she winced slightly, remembering how gruffly Gendo had handled their latest victory. He hadn't even congratulated Shinji directly, instead he just generally thanked everyone for all their work. Once again she silently gave thanks for turning down his advances...

"I'm sure that the commander approved of our efforts," Rei said just a bit uncomfortably, looking down at her plate.

"Hmm," Shinji made a noncommittal noise, not willing to directly contradict a guest.

'Isn't that interesting,' Misato noted as she watched the two youngsters interact. She found herself wondering if something had happened between Shinji and Rei up on that hill.. they had been up there a while on their own. It wasn't anything obvious but there was a little more softness as Rei looked and talked to Shinji.

"So what do you two want to do to celebrate?" Ritsuko asked the kids curiously as she munched on sweet and sour pork.

"Eh?" Rei blinked.

Misato smiled, "I doubt the commander would approve, but I think rewarding our two conquering heroes would be good."

"I don't really think...," Shinji hesitated.

"No, thank you," Rei said gravely, almost at the same time. Both she and Shinji exchanged a surprised smile, and then looked away.

"Aw," Ritsuko smiled, "but Misato already rented the kareoke machine."

"Kareoke?" Shinji whimpered.

Misato finished off her beer then thumped it down on the table. "Don't be a wimp," she scolded, "you'll have fun."

Ritsuko reached across the table to lay her hand on Rei's, "Please?"

Rei hesitated, then she nodded slightly. "One or two songs," she said to them firmly, "then I have to go."

"Fair enough," Misato bounced up, leading them into the living room, "let's go!"

"And here I was hoping you'd get us out of it," Shinji murmured to Rei, her gentle smile softening the words.

Rei smiled back, "Sorry."

"All right, who's first?" Ritsuko asked, a can of beer in her own hand.

'How many have those two had, anyway?' Shinji found herself wondering. Not that both women weren't old enough, but still...

"Me, me!" Misato laughed, getting up. She ran through the available songs and grinned, finding the tune she wanted. Crooning a love ballad to Ritsuko made both of the women blush, but they were also clearly enjoying themselves.

"If this gets much sweeter I may be sick," Shinji murmured to Rei softly.

"Hmm," Rei nodded just slightly.

"All right, your turn," Ritsuko said, passing the microphone over to Shinji.

Shinji opened her mouth to argue, then decided to just get it over with. She chose a song then opened her mouth to sing. The song was old, back to the 90's about a girl who never got along with others, and most importantly herself.

Misato shook her head as Shinji sat down, "Nice singing, though I've got mixed feelings about the song."

"You're the one who suggested kareoke," Shinji pointed out a bit defensively.

Sensing a possible argument Ritsuko quickly offered a turn to Rei, "Here you go."

"I..." Rei frowned slightly then nodded, walking over to the machine. A few keys, then her voice soared even as it carried a oddly unspecified sorrow...

"And you don't seem to understand,

A shame you seemed an honest man,

And all the fears you hold so dear

Will turn to whisper in your ear.

And I know what I say can hurt you,

And you know that it means so much

But you don't even hear a thing

I am faded, I am falling, I have lost it all,

Help me to breathe..."

There was a beat of dead silence as Misato finished another beer. "Next time we do kareoke," she said to no one in particular, "I'm getting these two drunk first."

"Hmm," Ritsuko agreed.

To be continued...

Note: Rei is singing from the opening theme from Serial Experiments Lain... a depressing yet oddly beautiful little song. If you haven't seen Lain I recommend it, if only for the visual design and unique storyline.


	8. Launch Seven!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Seven!

Shinji Ikari grabbed her breakfast quickly, popping up her toast even as she dumped out Pen Pen's can of sardines. "Wonder how long it'll be before they're up?" she young woman murmured to the penguin with amusement.

Pen Pen gave her a scolding look, as if she was asking foolish questions, then the penguin went back to scarfing it's food. The kitchen itself was lit up by the rising sun, a rose glow that lit up everything with that energy. The room was it's usual mess, but at least the kitchen table was clean enough for her to eat at.

"Urgl," Ritsuko stumbled towards the coffee machine, her blonde hair messy from sleep. Behind her Misato made a beeline for the fridge, getting out a can of beer. "Do you really have to do that?" Ritsuko muttered.

"Yup," Misato popped open the top then slammed the beer down, her oversized T-shirt and shorts chosen for comfort, not style.

"Dumb question," Ritsuko sipped with a sigh.

"Good morning," Shinji said to them mildly, watching the two older women with mild amusement. Their usual morning routine had been a little startling to her at first, but she had gotten used to it over time. It helped that whatever bickering Misato and Ritsuko did was balanced out by their honest affection.

Ritsuko sat at the table and nursed her cup of coffee, her battered house coat wrapped around her. "Please come by NERV after school," she sighed as she sipped, "we need to run through some simulator training."

Reheating some takeout from last night Misato noted, "If you need a ride I'm sure we can ask Misato or Maya to haul you over."

"I don't think you need to send officers out to get me," Shinji said, sweatdropping as the microwave binged and Misato popped it open, getting a fork and then digging in eagerly.

"I can't believe you eat that in the morning," Ritsuko grumbled as she put some more nice, safe toast on, "and with beer, too."

"It's a traditional Japanese breakfast," Misato defended herself cheerfully, "I'm just substituting beer for the sake, that's all."

Shinji got up, smiling wryly as she headed out, grabbing her school bag from where it waited by the front door. "Have a good day," she called as she slipped her shoes on and went out the door, her uniform skirt swirling around her legs.

"Thank god she didn't comment about last night," a smiling Ritsuko puffed out a sigh, "we were a little loud."

"Shinji usually wears her MP3 player during the evening," Misato said optimistically, "maybe she didn't hear anything."

'It's odd enough that I'm living with two grown women who just happen to be lesbians,' Shinji thought to herself as she reached the sidewalk and headed on towards the school, 'it's even stranger realizing that they actually have sex.' After a short pause she muttered wryly, "And really good sex too, by the sound of it."

The streets were still almost eerily silent in the early morning, only a small amount of traffic moving to work or carrying supplies for the city. Most of the people had left Tokyo-3 after the first Angel attack, and only a group of diehards and NERV employees were left, populating the massive city with such small numbers.

"Ikari-chan," a girl's voice called.

Looking up Shinji saw Hikaru waiting at the usual place, the young woman's twin brown ponytails giving her a oddly young look. "Morning," she smiled as she and Hikaru fell into step, a pattern they had developed over the past week or two.

"I think Aida wants to talk to you," Hikaru looked amused as they walked on.

A blush colored Shinji's cheeks, her eyes rolling. The blonde haired boy had been pretty obvious in his crush on Shinji, and in all honesty she wasn't quite sure what to do about it. It wasn't that she disliked him, but there wasn't any spark between them, either.

"Toji does, too," Hikaru added, giving Shinji a thoughtful look.

"Huh?" Shinji blinked.

Hikaru chuckled, "Don't worry, I don't think he intends to ask you out."

"That's good," Shinji sighed. She looked over at Hikaru thoughtfully, "Besides, I wouldn't want to get in your way."

Hikaru nearly stumbled, the other woman was so surprised. "Is it that obvious?" she asked her a bit uncomfortably.

"Not really," Shinji said quietly, "I guess that despite all your scolding of him, it seems that you care about him, too."

Hikaru chuckled uncomfortably, "I just wish he'd figure it out."

"Have you tried to tell him?" Shinji asked uncomfortably, glad that they were near the school. She was bad at this sort of thing, romance and all that, and felt very odd trying to give advice.

Hikaru gave her a amused look, "We've been friends forever, Shinji. It's a little hard to suddenly say that you're in love with him."

"Fair enough," Shinji conceded.

The first bell rang out and they hurried through the main gate with the other students, rushing to their lockers then on to class. Grabbing her seat Shinji scanned the class, noting that Aida and Toji were already there, along with most of the others. Her eyes landed on Rei Ayanami, gazing forward with a oddly detached expression.

Then Rei turned her head, meeting Shinji's eyes as what had happened a few nights ago ran through her mind. They had been stationed on a rise, their Evangelion ready for battle, waiting for the signal to attack the latest Angel. Oddly spurred on by Rei's silence Shinji had found herself confessing her own odd hopelessness, the sense that whatever she did was all basically meaningless.

Rei's blue hair had been blown by the breeze as she gazed out at the Angel waiting for them. "I fight for the Commander," she had finally said, "that's enough for me."

"Not for me," Shinji shook her head with a flash of anger.

Rei had studied her, "Then find someone or something you want to fight for." The signal came and they climbed in their entry plugs. "No matter what happens, I will protect you," Rei had said just before she climbed in, "good bye."

Shinji shook herself as she pulled herself back to the classroom, noticing the quizzical look Rei was giving her. Giving back a sheepish smile Shinji focused her attention on the teacher, silently glad that he hadn't called on her while she was zoned out.

Slipping away with her lunch Shinji headed up to the roof, sitting under the sun as she unpacked her store bought bento. 'Good, I dodged Aida,' she thought a bit guiltily as she ate. That was not a conversation she was looking forward to...

The door swung open and Shinji tensed, the frowned faintly as Toji walked out onto the roof. "Ikari," he gave her a grim look, "I want to talk to you."

'Uh oh,' Shinji thought then said, "If it's about Aida, I like him but he's not really my type..."

"No," Toji cut her off, "it's not about that." A short pause, "It's really true, you are the pilot of that giant robot?"

Shinji visibly winced. On her first day here, under the grilling of several students she had found herself blurting out that yes, she was the pilot of Evangelion. Not that it was too surprising that they'd figure it out, considering she had arrived for school only days after it's first appearance and that they had already deduced Rei was also a pilot.

"Well, yes," Shinji confessed as he walked over to her.

Toji looked down at her with a utterly unreadable expression on his face... then startlingly pulled her into a fierce hug!

"Urk," Shinji squeaked even as she thought, 'God, I hope Hikaru doesn't come up here."

Releasing her as suddenly as he had hugged her Toji smiled faintly. "You stopped the fight short of my family's apartment," he explained quietly, "my sister was there, and I don't want to think what might have happened..."

Shinji pulled away, walking over to the fence that circled the rooftop. "Don't thank me," she said grimly, "it was just dumb luck that she was saved." A pause, "There were certainly enough killed that I don't feel very proud of it."

Joining her there Toji asked mildly, "What do you want me to do, punch you?"

Shinji barked laughter, "No thanks, I don't like pain."

Toji shrugged slightly, "It may not help, but just think how many people that thing might have killed if you hadn't stopped it."

"Maybe," Shinji said softly.

To be continued...


	9. Launch Eight!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Eight!

Gendo Ikari looked off into the distance, the black haired man's expression troubled. "The scrolls predicted a certain order in the arrival of the angels," he murmured softly, "but strangely, that hasn't happened."

Fuyutsuki raised his eyebrows, the older man looking oddly dignified as he stood by Gendo's desk, the floor beneath them covered by odd symbols. "Which means?" he asked, curious about how the man was analysing the situation.

Gendo frowned, "It seems that SEELE can no longer rely on the scrolls to guide mankind's destiny." A faint smile, "It must have come as quite a shock."

Fuyutsuki nodded agreement, "Will this effect our plans?"

"We'll continue with our efforts to achieve Instrumentality, of course," Gendo said confidently, "but we have to be prepared for the unexpected, too. I want to move up the arrival of EVA-03 and we need our allies to work harder to prepare the other Evangelion Units."

"Understood," Fuyutsuki made a note. He hesitated, "Do we know why the Scrolls are no longer accurate?"

Gendo looked off into the distance for a moment, his glasses gleaming. "I looked at some of the translations, including the battles against the Angels," he said quietly, "they mention a boy who's purpose is to battle them."

"So we need to recruit a male pilot?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"No," Gendo shook his head with a faint smile, "I think they were talking about Shinji."

Fuyutsuki looked at him in confusion, "But she's a... I mean, that can't be right."

"I think that's the first difference between the scrolls and reality," Gendo said frankly, "and I suspect that it won't be the last."

In another part of the complex Shinji Ikari sat in the simulator, her expression faintly amused as she squeezed off another round of bullets. The simulated Angel disappeared and shje moved on even as she said, "So what's next?"

Ritsuko Akagio smiled from where she stood I the control room, her white labcoat swirling around her legs. The blonde took out a ten hundred yen note and passed it over to Misato, "Looks like you win our bet."

"Thank you," Misato smirked as the black haired woman purred, "I told you she'd do well in the simulator."

"Keep in mind your rearming points," Ritsuko reminded her, "the locations in the city where you can replace your rifle are also echoed in the simulation."

"Understood," Shinji nodded as she made her Evangelion sweep the city, also keeping an eye on her weapon's readouts.Another Angel popperd up and she dropped and rolled, coming up in firing position only to be nearly struck by a tentacle.

"That was close," Misato winced as Shinji nimbly jumped her Evangelion back, spraying the Angel with simulated bullets.

"Nice to see our prodigy isn't perfect," Ritsuki commented mildly. Talking to Shinji she said, "Also try to remember that the Angels aren't limited to a humanoid form, they could come in all shapes and sizes."

"Right," Shinji said with a flash of irritation, her eyes narrowed with annoyance as she proceded to kill the Angel with extra bullets.

Ritsuko grinned as she murmured to Misato, "She does have a temper."

Behind Ritsuko and Misato the door swished open and a figure entered the room, watching the screen with thoughtful red eyes. Rei Ayanami's light blue hair fell into her eyes, her school uniform swirling around her legs.

"Rei," Misato looked a bit surprised to see her there as she asked, "did you have a simulator session booked?"

"No," Rei shook her head slightly, her eyes moving to watch the black haired young woman up on the screen. "How is Shinji doing?" she asked in her soft way.

Misato and Ritsuko exchanged faintly surprised glances, knowing that Rei's interest was unusual to say the least. "She's doing quite well," Ritsuko answered her mildly, "though Shinji's not quite at your level, yet."

"Hmm," Rei nodded slightly then without a word turned and left the room.

"Well that was odd," Misato blinked.

Ritsuko shook her head, wondering what was going on with the enigmatic young woman. Not that understanding Rei was easy at the best of times, but she seemed even more mysterious around Shinji. "Think Rei likes her?" Ritsuko asked as they watched Shinji fight.

"Dunno," Misato put her hands in the pockets of her jacket, "she seems more... interested, when Shinji's around."

"True," Ritsuko nnodded, having observed that in the two girl's interactions. "Oh, you'd better get your good dress out," she said to Misato.

"Huh?" Misato looked confused by the change of topic.

"You did remember the wedding we're going to?" Ritsuko reminded her. A chuckle, "Yet another of our friends is getting married."

"What is it with them?" Misato shook her head with amusement, "They're rushing to the altar like lemmigs to the sea."

"Now there's a vivid thought, m'love, " Ritsuko laughed softly at that. Turning around to see Shinji in pitched battle with yet another Angel she asked her, "Do you want to keep going or pack it in for the rest of the day?"

"Just let me finish this," and Shinji ducked a blow, her rifle blazing at nearly point blank range to destroy her opponent.

A few moments later and Shinji had changed out of her blue plugsuit into a girl's school uniform, today. Oddly she wore both the boy's and girl's uniforms to class, a unique gesture that the staff hadn't objected to so far. It fit the girl's personality in some ways, being so mild mannered most of the time but fierce battling the Angels.

'Or dealing with Gendo,' Ritsuko noted. Aloud she said, "How would you like to join Misato on an excursion, Shin-chan?"

"What sort of excursion?" Shinji asked, putting her school bag over her shoulder casually as they walked to a lift to the surface.

"The Evangelion Unit-02 is on it's way here," Misato explained, "we're transportig it and it's pilot here by sea. Tomorrow, I'll be going out via helecopter to meet them."

"The pilot," Shinji tried to remember, "that's Asuka, right?"

Ritsuko nodded, "Asuka Soryu Langley, correct. She's something of a prodigy, too, as well as arguably a genius."

"Have you met her?" Misato looked curiously towards Ritsuko, "So far, I've only seen a photograph and her files."

"Once, I interviewed her for Gendo," Ritsuko said. She looked over at Shinji, "So what do you think?"

"I'll go, as long as I get to miss school," Shinji grinned impishly.

Misato laughed at that, "Yeah, you'll have to." She looked thoughtful, "You could even invite your classmates along."

Shinji thought of the crush Aida still had I her and winced. "No, I don't think so," she said, "this is Nerv business, after all."

"Right," Ritsuko looked amused. She hesitated and added, "Hmm, I wonder if Rei Ayanami would want to go along?"

Misato blinked, "Not a bad idea, but Gendo might disapprove of our having all three pilots away from here."

"Still, it can't hurt to ask," Ritsuko nodded.

Shinji had a faint blush to her cheeks but she kept her voice even, "I'd like that."

To be continued...


	10. Launch Nine

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Nine!

"We're nearly there," Misato called back from where she sat in the copilot's seat, the black haired woman dressed in her usual red jacket and black dress.

"Thank you, ma'am," Maya Ibuki answered with stiff formally, the younger woman holding on to her seat nervously. She looked almost as boyish as Shinji could with her short black hair and crisp uniform, something that she seemed mostly unaware of.

"Thank you for coming, Ms Ibuki," Shinji Ikari said quietly from where the girl sat across from Maya, Her long black hair was tied back neatly in a ponytail, and in deference to the upcoming first meeting she wore a comfortable skirt in blue.

"It's not a problem," Maya answered promptly, "when I heard that Dr. Akagi wanted another officer along I willingly volunteered." As she spoke of Ritsuko there was a gentling in her tone and manner, her eyes nearly sparking.

Rei Ayanami, as usual, was silent as the white clad girl gazed out the window at the naval vessels that grew slowly larger up ahead of them. None of them had really expected the withdrawn pilot to go when Misato offered her the chance, but remarkably she had agreed. Of course that made some problems with Commander Ikari, but in the end he had been swayed by curiosity regarding the unusual connection growing between Shinji and Rei.

Dropping her voice a bit Shinji asked Maya, "Is Misato really qualified to be up there sitting in the copilot seat?"

In a quite normal tone of voice Maya answered her, "Major Katsuragi is qualified to pilot a helicopter." Dropping her voice a lot she added, "Now how good she is at it, I don't know."

"I heard that," Misato's voice carried into the rear cabin.

Out the window they saw the vessels of the pacific fleet stretched out below them, many aircraft carriers and battleships belonging to the various great powers of the world. Of course in this modern age they were completely obsolete, but it seemed to comfort the governments in having such powerful ships available.

"Get ready, we're going down to the deck in a few moments," the pilot called.

"Great," Shinji muttered as they dropped, unconsciously reaching out for the nearest hand. Rei looked a bit startled as her hand was gently but firmly clasped and Shinji apologetically said, "I don't much like landings."

A slight smile teased Rei's lips, "Me, too."

'Well, isn't that interesting?' Maya watched the two of them in surprise as they swooped down to the deck of the aircraft carrier. After a moment there was a soft thump, the rumble of the engine's fading away.

"We're down," Misato unstrapped herself from the copilot's seat first, exiting into the back cabin before sliding open the side door.

Maya unclipped herself from the seat and left, then Rei and Shinji followed her out onto the windswept deck of the massive aircraft carrier 'Over the Rainbow.'. With a surprised cry Shinji fought to force her skirt down as the stiff sea breeze tried to whip it up, well aware of the sailors around them looking on curiously.

"Knew I should have just worn pants," Shinji murmured as they hurried forward to where a group of figures waited.

"Admiral," Misato nodded to the older man, a group of lesser officers lined up behind him, all looking at the newcomers suspiciously.

"Major," the Admiral nodded, his gray hair controlled by his uniform cap. "The papers?" he asked flatly.

From under her red jacket Misato handed over a folder, which the Admiral flipped open to examine the papers carefully. "Your orders, sir," Misato said calmly, "including my formally taking charge of your cargo."

"You!" a woman's voice cut off further conversation. Above them on the command deck a woman looked down, her red-orange hair blowing around her face even as her red dress swirled in the breeze. Boldly she grabbed the railing and vaulted over, dropping to the deck beside them with surprising ease.

"Young lady..." the Admiral started scoldingly.

"Asuka!" a slightly scruffy looking man called from the command deck, his face unshaven if somewhat handsome.

"Kaji!" Misato blurted.

Asuka Sorryu Langley looked around her with a frown, "So which one of you is the ace?" Her gaze fell on Maya, "It's you, isn't it?"

"Sorry, no," Maya held up her hands defensively.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Asuka Soryu Langley, the designated pilot of Unit Two and the Second Child," Misato said with barely hidden amusement, "Asuka, you already know Rei Ayanami and this is Shinji Ikari, pilot of Unit 01."

"Her!" Asuka blinked, looking at Shinji skeptically, "She's the one who successfully defeated a Angel in her first sortie?"

Shinji gave Asuka a wary look as she said, "It's nice to meet you, too."

"I think we should be talking about this in private?" Maya jumped in quickly.

"She's got a point," Misato noted sheepishly as she turned to the mildly bemused Admiral and said, "Sorry, sir."

"Not your fault," the Admiral flicked a glance to Asuka, "she's been fairly high strung since she came aboard." Clearing his throat he said, "I feel certain that our other guest can escort you to a room you can all talk in."

Kaji waved cheerfully from where the taller man slouched casually against a railing. "What the hell are you doing here?" Misato asked crossly as they walked the halls, the metal floor ringing beneath their feet.

"Why, I'd think you're not happy to see me," Kaji smirked and Misato just growled.

"Ayanami," Asuka said flatly to her, the three of them walking a bit apart from the older pair. She tossed a measuring glance at Shinji, "And I understand your father is Commander Ikari? That explains a lot."

A muscle in Shinji's jaw tightened as she clenched it, then said to her grimly, "That has nothing to do with me being a pilot."

Asuka looked back at her, faintly surprised at the tone of Shinji's voice. "Oh really," she murmured thoughtfully.

Jumping into the awkward moment Maya said with forced cheerfulness to Asuka, "We brought the power cable for your Evangelion, if there's an emergency you can deploy."

Asuka flipped her hair back, "Of course, I'd be honored to use my superior skills."

"Here we go," Kaji said as they reached a door, opening it to reveal a long table and chairs scattered around. In a surprisingly intimate gesture Kaji slipped his arms around Misato from behind and purred, "Missed me?"

WHACK! Smoothly Misato struck him upside the head, sending him jumping backwards as she dryly said, "Not so much, no."

"Still with Ritsuko, huh?" Kaji said as they all grabbed their seats.

"And happily so," Misato nodded. Oddly as she said it Maya flinched a bit, looking oddly uncomfortable. Not noting that reaction Misato gave Kaji a wary look and asked, "So what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Since I was on an errand to NERV anyway I jumped at the chance to escort Asuka there," Kaji said with a grin.

"Lecher," Misato muttered.

"Uhm," Shinji ventured, "have you know each other long?"

"Since university," Kaji laughed, "back when she and Ritsuko first met." He grinned impishly, "Why, one time I walked in on Ritsuko and Misato when they were..."

Swiftly Misato slapped a hand over his mouth, "They do not need to hear that!"

To be continued...


	11. Launch Ten!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Ten!

"Damn it, stop thinking so loud," Asuka growled as they lurched, the red Unit 02 fighting to keep it's balance on the deck of the ship.

"Trying," Shinji answrered, holding on to the back of the seat in the entry plug, the plug suit she had borrowed from Asuka clinging to her body.

The Angel was a black shape beneath the water racing with incredible speed as the navy vessels tried uselessly to destroy it. It had attacked with almost no warning, leaving them scrambling to prepare any kind of defense.

"We've only got the prog knife as a weapon," Asuka said as she scanned the water, "we have to let it get close."

"But if we hit the water we're in trouble," Shinji smiled slightly, "I rather doubt a Evangelion can swim."

"Obviously," Asuka answered coldly.

"So, you like Kaji?" Shinji asked casually.

"What?" Asuka blurted, blushing. "Why are you asking me that now?"

"No time like the present," Shinji answered even as she saw a shadow at the corner of her eye. "Incoming!"she cried, pointing.

"I see it," Asuka wheeled the Eva around, knife at the ready and sliced, taking a chunk off the Angel's side, a fin dropping away to hit the water. In fact she hadn't seen it coming, and was a bit disturbed that Shinji had. Clearly the pilot was more capable than Asuka had first thought.

"It's circling," Shinji blinked as the dark shape moved awkwardly in the water. Her eyes widened, "It can't maneuver without both fins!"

"The one is regenerating fast," Asuka murmured as a dangerous idea began to form.

Obviously, Shinji was thinking similar thoughts as she said, "But we've got a shot. Should we take it?"

"It's a gamble..." Asuka was tempted.

"The longer this thing is active," Shinji looked sly, "the better chance it has of taking out the ship with Kaji on it."

"You fight dirty."

"Sometimes it's the only way to win," Shinji shrugged.

"Let's go," and with that Asuka dove her Evangelion off the sideof the ship.

"What are they DOING?" Misato squealed, holding the binoculars to her eyes.

"Damn I need a smoke," Kaji muttered, the brown haired man restlessly scratching at the stubble on his chin.

"They're going after the injured Angel, aren't they?" Rei asked flatly, but her red eyes were narrowed in concern.

"That's insane," Maya blurted, her eyes wide.

"Not exactly," Misato reluctantly handed the binoculars to the patiently waiting Rei, "it looked like they hurt it badly."

"That's the sort of risk Asuka'd take," Kaji admitted as they waited for some sign.

"I wouldn't have expected Shinji to, though," Maya noted.

"The girl has unexpected depths," Misato conceded.

Suddenly water fountained up as the Angel threw itself out of the water, Unit-02 firmly on it'd back. Seizing the opportunity the Evangelion struck with the progressive knife, driving the blade into the Angel's core in a flash of light. The creature collapsed after thrashing around a bit and the Evangelion was hauled onto the deck of the ship by it's power cable.

"Come on," Rei cried as they raced from the bridge down to the deck.

The Evangelion's entry plug had already been popped out when they reached the deck and as it popped open they were greeted by quite a sight. A bitterly swearing Asuka and Shinji were in a tangle of limbs in the seat, obviously thrown about by the Angel's death struggles.

Taking in the scene Misato smirked, "Well, Shinji, was it good for you?"

"Misato!" Shinji scolded as she fell out of the entry plug and onto the deck.

"Are you all right?" Rei asked, the blue haired girl offering Shinji a hand up.

Shinji took it, "Nothing hurt but my pride."

"You all right?" Kaji asked Asuka calmly.

"Other than that pervert feeling me up," Asuka said as she brushed herself off.

"I fell on you," Shinji protested.

"Likely story," Asuka sniffed.

"Was it more difficult piloting the Eva with two people inside?" Maya asked, organizer out to make notes in.

"Huh?" they all looked at her in surprise.

"I'm sure Dr. Akagi would be interested," Maya said defensively.

"She's got a point," Misato admitted.

"The Unit-02 was confused by out thinking in German and Japanese at first," Asuka conceded as the two gave their report.

"You seeing what I'm seeing?" Kaji asked Misato softly.

"Rei hasn't let go of Shinji's hand yet," Misato smiled slightly. "In fact, I don't even think she's aware she's doing it."

"You want to tell her?" Kaji asked.

"Nah."

Maya nodded as she finished her notes, "Thank you very much."

"So were you worried about me, Kaji?" Asuka asked charmingly.

"Of course," Kaji grinned disarmingly.

As officers hurried about Rei and Shinji found themselves sitting off to the side, watching the chaos unfold. "What was it like piloting with Asuka?" Rei asked, her thumb moving in circles again's Shinji's skin.

Shinji smiled wryly, "She swears like a sailor."

A smile actually tugged at Rei's lips. "I'm not surprised," she admitted.

"It was odd," Shinji admitted after a moment, "there was a moment when we were on that Angel that I thought we were going to die."

"Yes?" Rei asked.

"It was as if," Shinji gestured awkwardly, "our wills became one. We were just not going to let that thing win."

"Really," Rei's voice took on a flat tone as she released Shinji's hand.

"I couldn't live with myself if you or the others had been hurt," Shinji admitted.

Rei's gaze softened again. "I'm glad," she said.

To be continued...


	12. Launch Eleven!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Eleven!

Gendo Ikari read the report in his massive office, his expression remote as he read about the encounter with the aquatic angel. The dark brown haired man finally looked up from the documents at Kaji as he asked him, "So, do you think the Angel sensed the Evangelion, or what you were carrying?"

Kaji shrugged as he put the case down on Gendo's desk, "Who knows? We still have very little idea of the Angels' capabilities."

"Hmm," Gendo almost looked like he was ready to grab at the case in eagerness as he continued bitingly, "at least you were able to complete your mission, Mr. Inspector from the United Nations."

Quite calmly Kaji popped the locks, the case swinging open to reveal something that looked like a cross between a sea creature and a developing life form. "Adam," Kaji agreed, "direct from SEELE to you, sir." A pause then he carefully asked, "Is this part of the Instrumentality project, sir?"

"That," Gendo closed the case, his expression carefully remote as he said firmly, "is need to know only."

Kaji nodded calmly, "Understood."

Emerging from the shadows as Kaji left Fuyutsuki said seriously, "He knows more than he's letting on."

"Of course," Gendo seemed unsurprised, "her serves three masters, at least. If you're playing that sort of game you'd better be smart."

"Three?" Fuyutsuki asked, his short grey hair combed back neatly.

"The UN, SEELE and NERV," Gendo answered with a shrug. "It's a dangerous game he's playing, one that could be... fatal."

"We'll do what needs to be done," Fuyutsuki said.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city a door opened as a woman's voice called out, "Honey, I'm home!"

Shinji Ikari sighed as she looked at her guardian, "Do you have to do that?"

"Yup," Misato smirked, the black haired woman leading Shinji inside. She walked into the kitchen with the take out bags even as Ritsuko emerged from their bedroom, "Hi love."

"Welcome back," Ritsuko paused to kiss Misato hello then helped her with the bags. A smile tugged her lips, "I understand you look good in red, Shinji."

"Huh?" Shinji blushed faintly.

With a impish smirk Ritsuko said, "Maya emailed me her report in before you all got back, I read all the juicy details." A bit more apologetic she added, "I would have come meet you but something came up at the lab."

"S'alright," Misato sat down tiredly.

Shinji and Ritsuko quickly began opening up the various containers and setting out the food, steaming plates soon set up in front of all three of them. "Beer?" Ritsuko asked as she paused in front of the fridge.

"You have to ask?" Misato smiled.

"Thanks for the food," Shinji murmured then dug in.

"So," Ritsuko asked in between mouthfuls of dinner, "what did you think of Miss Asuka Soryu Langley?"

"She's... unique," Shinji admitted.

Misato fought back a snort of laughter. "She's as much of a spitfire as ever," she agreed, "and she still hates Ayanami's guts."

"Psychological issues?" Ritsuko raised a eyebrow in question.

"Probably," Misato shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Shinji looked curious.

"I can't go into much as it's from her private files," Ritsuko sounded faintly apologetic as she continued on, "let's just say you aren't the only one with family issues."

"Huh," Shinji nodded as she ate, occasionally dropping a piece of fried fish for the penguin Pen Pen. "Where will she be staying?"

"She'll get the option of NERV housing or a host family," Ritsuko answered.

"Anything interesting happen while we were gone?" Misato asked, looking over at Ritsuko with undisguised tenderness.

"Another of our classmates is getting hitched," Ritsuko revealed, "we got the invitation in the mail earlier this week."

"What's with this lemming like rush to wedded bliss?" Misato bitched. She sighed, "Rits-chan, you're going to have to make me a honest women."

Ritsuko winked, "Just name the time and place."

"Anything else interesting happen?" Shinji asked with a blush.

Misato chuckled, "Poor Shinji."

Taking pity on her Ritsuko said, "Well, it seems we have a rival."

"Of?" Shinji looked curious.

"Jet Alone had it's test run," Ritsuko revealed, "it was successful, surprisingly enough. Gendo's not happy, as you can imagine."

"I bet," Misato nodded with a grin.

"Why would dear old dad," Shinji's voice dripped sarcasm, "be unhappy about us possibly getting help?"

Ritsuko fought back a smile, 'Shinji really doesn't like Gendo much.' Calmly she said, "I think he's concerned that Jet Alone might interfere with our Anti-Angel efforts."

"So did Jet Alone go with a piloted or unmanned model?" Misato pulled the discussion away from Gendo.

"Manned," Ritsuko answered, "it seems they ALSO want to copy the AT field, and to have a chance in hell they need a pilot."

"Ambitious," Misato conceded.

"Do you know who they got to be a pilot?" Shinji asked curiously.

"A young lady about your age," Ritsuko said calmly, "at least according to her file. A Miss Mana Kirishima."

"Mana?" Shinji blinked.

"You know her?" Misato looked at her curiously.

"If it's the same girl," Shinji frowned as she finished up her soup, "then yeah, I think she's in my class."

"And isn't that interesting," Ritsuko blinked.

"All right Shinji," Misato said as she scooped up the last of her rice, "get close to her and learn all her secrets."

"I couldn't do that," Shinji frowned.

"Kidding," Misato casually waved a fork, "but..."

"Yes?" Ritsuko asked.

"I do think we'll take a look into this Mana," Misato washed her food down with her beer, "just in case."

"Just don't do anything too embarrassing," Shinji sighed.

"Would I do that?" Misato asked innocently.

"My classmates are still talking about the time you went to see my teacher in that mini-skirt," Shinji pointed out.

Ritsuko chuckled, "She's got you there."

Later that evening, when Shinji had retired with his MP3 player and Misato and Ritsuko were lounging on the couch Misato poked Ritsuko in the side and said, "Okay, spill."

"You saw me react to Mana being her classmate?" Ritsuko murmured.

"Yup," Misato said, "what's going on?"

"It's something from Gendo's private files," Ritsuko revealed, "about the children in Shinji's class."

"Yes?" Misato asked impatiently.

"They're all on the Marduk lists," Ritsuko revealed, "as potential candidates to pilot Evangelion."

"I'll be damned..."

To be continued...

Notes: Mana Kirishima is a character from the Evangelion computer games.


	13. Launch Twelve!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twelve!

Shinji Ikari smiled wryly as she entered the classroom, her brown hair tied back in a ponytail and dressed in a boys uniform. She nodded greetings to friends before sitting down at her desk, then frowned as she felt eyes on her.

'Mana,' Shinji realized as she looked up to meet the other girl's gaze.

Mana Kirishima sat near the front of the class, looking neat and orderly in her girl's uniform. Her reddish brown hair was short and a bit messy, but her eyes were sharp and piercing as she coolly met Shinji's gaze before turning back towards the front of the class.

'She looks annoyed at me,' Shinji noted as she got her books out of her bag, 'wonder if it's something I did or just because I work with NERV?'

"Shit, hurry," Toji Suzuhara said as he held the door to the classroom open while he and Aida ducked inside, both looking worried.

"Cutting it a little close?" Shinji asked wryly.

"You have no idea," Aida groaned as he collapsed into a seat, "we ran into a monster on the way to school."

"Huh?" Shinji blinked at them.

"She was playing a video game at the arcade, the most gorgeous redhead," Toji noted, "well, she was gorgeous until she opened her mouth. She demanded money from us for accidentally seeing her panties!"

'I think I know who they ran into,' Shinji thought wryly.

"Then she shoved me around," Aida said mournfully, "and started a fight with some Yanki punks. We barely escaped with our lives!"

"I can't believe you two," Hikari reached out to grab Toji by the ear and yanked him backwards as thee brown haired girl continued, "how could you leave a girl in trouble?" Her twin ponytails bounced with her anger as she continued, "That's something only the lowest sort of man would do!"

"Was she all right when you left?" Shinji asked them, feeling a flash of concern for her fellow Evangelion pilot. Not that she didn't think Asuka could handle herself, but it couldn't hurt to check.

WHAM!

The classroom door slammed open again as Asuka Soryu Langley strode inside. Her red hair flowed over her shoulders, and Shinji blinked in surprise when he saw she was still wearing the 'cat ear' headpieces for her Evangelion. Along with her student uniform she looked stunning, in a fiery sort of way.

"Wow," Aida breathed out even as Hikari let Toji go.

"It's you!" Asuka declared as she saw Shinji and Rei Ayanami sitting in their seats.

"Welcome to our class," Hikari stepped into the moment of awkwardness smoothly.

"All right everyone," the older teacher said as he entered, "take your seats, please." He wrote something on the chalk board as he said, "We have a new arrival."

Standing in front of where he had wrote her name Asuka smiled with a surprising amount of charm. "My name is Asuka Soryu Langley," she bowed as she continued sweetly, "I hope we can all get along."

'I wonder how long that attitude is going to last?' Shinji wondered silently.

Annoyingly, Asuka seemed determined to show her intelligence that day, hand shooting up to any request from the teacher for answers, Even more annoying was her being right all the time, resulting in a few of the less highly achieving classmates to hate her guts.

Later during lunch period Shinji watched with some amusement as Asuka tried to unsuccessfully bond with Rei. It seemed Rei was fully into her emotionless mode, though Shinji suspected she saw a few slight twitches of her lips indicating humor at the situation. Training together had helped her begin to read Rei more, but even so Shinji often didn't understand that enigmatic young lady.

Asuka finally cursed, though Shinji didn't understand the language, then stomped off with a annoyed twirl of her skirt. "Come on," she forcefully grabbed Shinji by the arm and nearly dragged her away.

"No," Shinji dug in her heels and shook Asuka's grip off her arm. In a somewhat more normal tone of voice she said dryly, "Nice to see you again, Miss Soryu."

Asuka looked at her flatly for a moment, then she smiled slightly. "You won't be bullied," she noted, "I like that."

"Thanks." Shinji nodded towards a slightly secluded corner, "Let's talk."

As Asuka sat down she frowned, "Is she always that... emotionless?"

"She's not emotionless," Shinji paused before admitting, "but she is very hard to read. Get to know her and you'll find out."

"And how long does that take?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It did take me some time," Shinji decided to take the question seriously.

Asuka looked over at Rei, her expression one of profound distaste. "All right," she said firmly, "I'll try. Then, we'll see."

'That's a interesting reaction,' Shinji blinked, wondering just what was going on in the other lady's head.

Shaking off her melancholy mood Asuka gave Shinji a visual once over as she asked, "So what's with the boy's uniform?"

"It's comfortable," Shinji gave a slightly quirky smile, "it suits me, and I'm pretty certain it annoys my father."

"You have issues with your father?" Asuka asked intently.

"Don't we all?" Shinji offered.

A smile tugged at Asuka's lips as she got up suddenly, brushing off her uniform skirt. "I think we may just get along," she noted before she strode off.

Shinji looked after her with a perplexed expression, trying to figure out what that might have meant. 'Never mind,' she decided, settling down to eat her lunch.

"Ikari!"

'Then again,' Shinji thought, looking up as Toji and Aida hurried up.

"You actually talked with her?" Toji demanded, the taller boy looking at her with a honestly surprised look.

"What's she like?" Aida demanded.

"Abrasive," Shinji relied dryly as she began to eat, knowing that she didn't have that much time left.

"But damn is she good looking," Toji noted.

Shinji ate a mini-sausage as she warned him, "Just don't let Hikari hear you say that. You'll regret it."

Toji paled a bit, "Good point."

"Wimp," Aida smirked as he casually swept the room with his camcorder. "Hey Ikari?" he started.

"Yeah?" Shinji asked as she polished off his lunch.

"What's with Mana always staring at you?" Aida asked.

"You're kiddin' me?" Toji looked around covertly then confirmed that yes, Mana was giving Shinji a hostile look. "Damn, do you have to get all the hot chicks?"

"It's not like that," Shinji blushed.

"Damn, I wish I was a Evangelion pilot," Aida sighed sadly, "then I'd get the chicks after me, too."

"That," Toji added, "and stop being a military otaku."

"Give up my cosplay and war gaming?" Aida looked shocked, "Never!"

Toji shrugged, "I rest my case."

Shinji closed up her lunch box with a relieved sigh, glad she had finished it. 'And thank god Ritsuko made it,' she noted, 'Misato's tend to be inedible. Wonder if all that drinking she does blew out her tastebuds?'

"Ikari?" yet another voice interrupted her thoughts.

Biting back a groan Shinji looked up to see Mana had walked up, muscling by the plainly curious Toji and Aida. "Yes?" she kept her voice mild.

Mana gave a pointed look at Toji and Aida then asked, "Can I talk to you alone?"

"Well," Shinji started then the bell rang telling them to go back to class. "Damn."

"Could I see you after school?" Mana asked, determination in her eyes.

"Yeah, I can do that," Shinji agreed, curious to see what she wanted.

To be continued...


	14. Launch Thirteen!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Thirteen!

"So what happened?" Misato asked her eagerly even as the sirens blared in NERV, people rushing about wildly.

"Mana gave me a warning," Shinji hurried along in her blue plug suit, her brown ponytail bouncing against her back, "stay out of Jet Alone's way or else."

"That wasn't very friendly," Misato frowned.

Shinji snorted, "You can say that again."

Just then a angry shout rang out and Asuka hurried to catch up, her red plug suit hugging her more generous curves. "I told you to wait," she said to Shinji fiercely.

"Misato needed to debrief me on something," Shinji improvised fast.

"Humph," Asuka frowned as they hurried into the briefing room.

"What are you doing here?" Misato nearly skidded to a stop seeing who was casually waiting for them in there.

"Just observing," Kaji smiled charmingly, the unshaven man watching with amusement as he sat in one of the chairs down front.

"Ah hem," Ritsuko cleared her throat, the woman standing by the main display reminding them why they were here.

"Sorry, Rits-chan," Misato said after she walked up to the other woman, "I'll be good."

Ritsuko gave her a fond look, "I'll believe that when I see it."

Rei Ayanami entered and took a seat as she smiled slightly at Shinji. "Things went well?" she asked her softly.

"Good enough," Shinji whispered back.

"All right everyone," Ritsuko said once they all settled down, "here's what we know." A image appeared of the area around the city, "We've detected a Angel inbound to the city, estimated to arrive in two hours. With the damage to the city from earlier Angel attacks, we want to try to stop it before it gets here."

"I'm willing to go out alone," Asuka's eyes shone with eagerness as she continued, "just give the word."

"We'll deploy both you and Shinji," Misato corrected, "I'd send Rei out too, but unit 00 is still being repaired."

"Understood," Rei said flatly, eyes flickering to Shinji a moment.

"This should be interesting," Shinji sighed, feeling the pure eagerness positively radiating off of Asuka.

"We don't know what capabilities this Angel might have," Ritsuko cautioned them, "be cautious before attacking."

"We'll be fine," Asuka reassured her as they got up to go.

It didn't take long for the two Evangelion's to be deployed, carried by modified carrier transport to the edge of the city. Both were deployed smoothly, power cables attached to give them some extra range as they waited for the Angel to emerge from the sea.

"Don't get in my way once it arrives." Asuka warned as she took up position, the red Unit 02 hefting a dangerous looking pole arm.

"Not planning on it," Shinji said, blinking as he saw movement. "What in the..."

A third transport, a vehicle of a somewhat different design to the ones NERV used, arrived, the cloth covering pulled back to reveal a rather strange looking machine. Unlike the mostly humanoid shaped Evangelion it was very roundish, with thin arms and somewhat more sturdy looking legs.

"You have GOT to be kidding me," Asuka said, sounding oddly offended by the other machine's chunky appearance.

"That's Jet Alone," Shinji sighed, "at least, it looks like it from the photo's I've seen."

Asuka said something in German that wasn't sounding complimentary. "Misato!" she yelled into the radio.

"I'm in touch with them now," Misato sounded more than a bit pissed even as Jet Alone lumbered up to the two Evas.

"Evangelion pilots," Jet Alone's pilot broadcast, "I m here under authority of the Japan Self Defense Force. Remove yourselves from the vicinity."

"WHAT?!" Asuka roared.

In the background they heard Misato swearing fluently. "All right," she said in disgust, "pull back."

"You have got to be kidding," Shinji said.

Misato sounded disgusted as she said, "Jet Alone's creators have gotten authorization from the Japanese government to attempt to use their creation against an Angel. It's been taken out of our hands."

"Can we at least stick around?" Shinji asked after a moment. "If something goes wrong with Jet Alone..."

"Just stay back unless you have to," Misato ordered grimly.

Asuka swore again, loudly. "That peace of garbage won't stand a chance," she hissed out angrily, hands tight on Unit 02's controls.

Out to sea they could see the Angel, lumbering through the water as Jet Alone waited for it on the shoreline. The angel was mostly humanoid but most resembled a headless torso, the core resting obviously on it's chest.

"At least the target's and obvious one," Shinji murmured.

Jet Alone lumbered forward, arms swinging and attacked with surprising speed. The first blow missed as the Angel circled it, seemingly trying to understand what it faced. The pilot of Jet Alone managed to dodge the first return strike, but a second blow hammered it backwards.

"Ha! Good one," Asuka sounded amused.

'Be careful, Mana,' Shinji thought worriedly.

Jet Alone rallied, sweeping in fast and striking with both fists at the Angel's core, sending the creature reeling backward. Of course what happened next was a surprise to them all. The Angel's core appeared to subdivide, the creature splitting, then suddenly there were two Angel's flanking Jet Alone!

"Misato!" Shinji blurted in alarm.

"I'm contacting the Japanese government now," Misato barked even as the two halves of the Angel proceeded to beat on Jet Alone.

"That'll teach them," Asuka sounded amused.

"Damn it," Shinji actually sounded angry, "there's a human being in there." As sparks and smoke erupted from Jet Alone Shinji had to act, racing in to try and drive the two Angel's back, Asuka following her in.

"No, I can," the pilot of Jet Alone coughed, "do this! Stay back!"

"Shut up," Asuka growled, swinging the polearm-like weapon that Ritsuko had equipped her with for this mission to drive the Angel back.

"Buy me some time," Shinji said as she used her Evangelion to help Jet Alone up, "I'm going to get this thing clear."

"Make it fast," Asuka barked.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well, that could have gone better," Misato said later as she surveyed her battered pilots. The Angel had trounced them both, forcing a emergency withdraw and causing the military to drop a N2 mine on it.

Asuka had a bandage wrapped around her head, half her face bruised from a rather rough landing. The LCL was good a protecting them, but obviously it wasn't perfect. "If that damned robot hadn't got in the way," she scowled, "we'd have finished it easily."

"Maybe, maybe not," Ritsuko noted calmly. "We've analyzed the battle data, the Angel's split core provides it with a remarkable defense."

"Which means?" Shinji asked, her arm bandaged from a near break.

"Unless both pieces of the core are destroyed at the same time," Ritsuko said calmly, "the Angel can't be stopped."

"That's going to be tough to manage," Misato blinked, processing the information.

"Damn," Shinji muttered. She looked up questioningly, "How long until the Angel regenerates from the mine?"

"We've got a bit over a week until it's on the move again," Maya Ibuki spoke up, the brown haired young woman delivering a message to Misato.

"Well, well," Misato blinked as she read the piece of paper. She looked up at Shinji, "It seems Mana Kirishima is at the entrance gate, asking for you Shinji."

"Huh?" Shinji looked surprised.

"You'd best see what she wants," Misato nodded.

A few moments later Shinji found herself at the entrance way, Mana waiting just outside. The normally neat redhead was battered and bruised as bad or worse than the Evangelion pilots, and she had a most unattractive scowl on her face.

"Hello, Miss Kirishima," Shinji said a bit tentatively.

"Ikari," Mana said flatly. She took a breath then reluctantly said, "Thank you, you and your fellow pilot may have saved my life."

"You're welcome," Shinji smiled wryly.

"You!" a voice growled. Looking up they saw Asuka charging at them, "You're the one who interfered with my debut!"

"Here comes hurricane Asuka," Shinji murmured and Mana giggled.

To be continued...


	15. Launch Fourteen!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Fourteen!

Mana Kirishima watched the attack on the room's monitors, nearly holding her breath as the two Evangelions swept forward in perfect synch. In a well coordinated assault they battled the split Angel, each one moving as if piloted by the same mind, then in a final move each shattered the core of the Angel and destroyed it.

"Well," Mayumi Yamagishi, the pilot liason in the Jet Alone project said wryly as she shut the recording off, "that could have gone better for our project." The brown haired, glasses wearing scientist sighed as she turned from the image to meet Mana's worried glance.

"I'm very sorry," Mana said quietly.

Mayumi walked over to where Mana sat in a steel chair and patted her on the shoulder, "It's not your fault, Mana." She knelt by her side as she added, "We at the project understand that you did your best."

"I never expected a Angel to be able to spilt like that," Mana admitted, hiding a shudder as she remembered the creature splitting then pounding ruthlessly on Jet Alone.

Mayumi squeezed her shoulder gently before letting go. "Neither did we," she said quietly, "and we should have. The Angels have been very unpredictable so far and we should expect that to continue."

"Does that mean I'm not fired as a pilot?" Mana asked her, looking up at the older woman hopefully.

Mayumi shook her head, "Of course not. In fact, we were worried you wanted to quit after the beating you took."

Ignoring her bruises Mana stood, wincing slightly as she said forcefully, "No, it makes me even more committed to stopping the Angels."

"I'm glad," Mayumi nodded as she moved away. Taking on a more business-like tone she saiud, "Continue to study the footage, we'll be discussing the material more later."

"Yes, ma'am," Mana nodded. Quietly she asked, "How soon will Jet Alone be ready for pre-launch testing?"

"A week or two, so rest up while you can," Mayumi answered before she left the pilot debriefing room and walked down the halls of the military facility not far from Tokyo-3. She reached her office and went inside, sitting behind her desk as she activated a communication device that was built within.

The image of a older man quickly appeared in front of her, his eyes hidden behind a futuristic visor as he studied her grimly. "Miss Yamagishi," Keel Lorenz said flatly, "I hope you have good news for me."

"Kirishima is willing to continue to be a pilot," Mayumi answered a bit nervously, "and Jet Alone should be repaired within the month."

"Good," Keel nodded slightly. His manner serious he continued, "SEELE has contributed a great deal of money into this project, we expect results."

"Sir," Mayumi stiffened nervously.

"We no longer trust that Ikari and NERV fully serve our needs," Keel said grimly, "and the Evangelion has proven a difficult tool to master. We need a alternative if things go badly, and for now that alternative is Jet Alone."

"We'll do our best, sir," Mayumi nodded.

"See that you do," and with that Keel signed off.

Mayumi sat back with a sigh as she picked up her phone and dialed. "How long can I serve two masters?" she wondered aloud as she waited for it to connect.

"Kaji," the man's smooth voice answered after a moment.

"Hello, lover," Mayumi smirked, "I've got more news for you."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"So, are you and Asuka getting along better?" Toji Susuhara asked as the group of students lounged together near the windows.

"Having to live together until we fought the Angel was tough," Shinji Ikari admitted, the black haired woman sitting on the window's ledge.

"I envy you," Aida Kensuke sighed.

"I dunno," a thoughtful looking Toji surprised him by admitting, "sure Asuka is beautiful, but she's a real spitfire."

Rei Ayanami watched them talk, then Shinji looked up and met her gaze. "Excuse me," Shinji said as she got up, walking over to Rei's side.

"Shinji," Rei nodded, a faint smile teasing her lips.

Shinji sat down in a empty chair, her black hair tied back neatly. "I almost wish you had been put there with me," she admitted softly.

"Oh?" Rei asked.

"I flubbed the landing after the fight," Shinji confessed a little sheepishly, "and Asuka started berating me for it." She sighed as she continued, "Is it my fault we were too exhausted to practice that bit?"

Rei actually chuckled softly at that then continued, "I'm just glad you made it through all right, Shinji."

"Me too," Shinji agreed.

Outside in the hall Asuka Soryu Langley paused as she saw the other girl walking up the hall towards the classroom. "Kirishima," she nodded tersely.

"Asuka," Mana nodded.

"I won't forgive you spoiling my debut," Asuka said coldly, "don't forget that."

Mana sighed as Asuka shoved by her, heading into the classroom. 'Just what I need,' she thought as she followed her in, 'a vendetta by a mad Evangelion pilot.'

Entering the classroom Mana took in the scene, quickly assessing what was going on. Shinji and Rei were talking, while a visibly stiff Asuka was taking her seat. Over in another corner Toji, Aida and the class rep were talking together, too.

'Asuka looks angry,' Mana noted, 'is it because Shinji and Rei are together?'

"Hello, Mana," Shinji smiled as she passed to her own seat."

"Ikari, Ayanami," Mana nodded, once more struck by how nice Shinji could be. 'Of course,' she mused, 'nice guys finish last.'

Asuka was already in her seat, occasionally tossing a smoldering glare at Shinji and Rei. 'Does she think no one notices?' Mana wondered as she sat down. Hanging up her bookbag she got out her books even as they waited for the home room teacher to arrive.

"All right, class," the somewhat creaky older man soon arrived, "we'll be discussing international history, both before and after Second Impact. Please turn to page..."

Shinji found herself tuning out the teacher, especially as she found herself thinking of what she had just learned. During her period of enforced confinement with Asuka the pilot had been astonished at Shinji's ignorance, and had spent some time educating her.

'Like telling me that Second Impact wasn't a meteor strike like I thought,' Shinji mused, 'but instead humanity's first encounter with a Angel.' An expedition to the arctic had lead to that encounter, and one of the scientists there had been Misato's father. 'I wonder what that must have been like?' she silently questioned.

"Miss Ikari!" the voice demanded.

"Sir!" Shinji jerked, realizing the teacher had asked her something.

The old man looked amused, "I don't suppose you could answer the question?"

Shinji felt her cheeks burn as Toji, Aida and the others gave her sympathetic looks. "No sir," she sighed.

"Then you get to write a essay tonight on," he paused thoughtfully, "reformation of authority after second impact. Three pages, double spaced."

"Yes sir," Shinji sat down with a sigh.

"All right, who wants to answer the question... Miss Langley?" he offered.

Asuka stood gracefully, despite the bruises she probably still had from the earlier fight. "In the aftermath of Second Impact, there was a broad breakdown in civil order, mostly brought under control via martial law and United Nations efforts."

"Exactly," the teacher nodded wisely.

'As expected of a college educated woman,' Shinji admitted. 'In some ways, she's far ahead of us all...' she mused. Add to that Asuka's origins as a elite sperm and egg and Shinji found herself wondering if they'd find anything at all in common.

'Bleh!' Asuka stuck her tongue out at Shinji while their teacher was writing something up on the board.

'On the other hand, it's nice to see her do something so normal, too,' Shinji thought to herself wryly.

Mana had to cover her mouth to contain the urge to giggle as she watched the two pilots. 'These people are nuts,' she chuckled as she pretended to study. Not to mention nearly laughing at the perplexed look on Rei's face...

"Miss Kirishima , what are you giggling about?" the teacher demanded.

'Busted,' Mana sighed. "Nothing, sir," she answered flatly.

"Well, if nothing amuses you, a report should make you joyous. Same length as Ikari's," he said as he turned back to the board.

'I think school is worse than fighting Angels,' Mana sighed as she went back to work.

To be continued...


	16. Launch Fifteen!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Fifteen!

As the class prepared for their trip to Okinawa there was much rejoicing... except for four students, all of whom watched the giddy students with some annoyance. Shinji Ikari sighed as the slim, black haired girl sat back at her desk, "Why do ALL of us have to stay?" She looked over at Asuka and smiled slyly, "I bet you could take on a Angel all alone."

Asuka gave her a look, the orange haired spitfire clearly aware that agreeing or disagreeing might be a trap. "That's right," she tossed her head, "but NERV has decided to have all it's pilots ready."

"In case you need rescuing again?" Rei wondered softly, her light blue hair falling into her red eyes.

Asuka scowled at the pale girl, "Shut up!"

"You too?" Mana Kirishima asked, the redhead sitting nearby as she ate her lunch. She had recovered fairly quickly from the trouncing the Angel had given her and Jet Alone, only still bearing a few scrapes and bruises.

"Yeah," Shinji agreed, "we're all on alert just in case."

Mana looked annoyed, "Jet Alone hasn't even been repaired and I'm still being kept here." She pouted, "I wanna see Okinawa!"

Asuka actually chuckled before recovering her poise. "Anyway, our duty requires us to stay here," she said firmly, "besides, I'm sure Okinawa isn't THAT good."

Everyone other than Rei gave her a look. "Sun, sand and guys or girls in swimwear? Are you out of your mind?" Mana sighed.

"We could always do it here." Rei noted mildly.

This time, everyone looked at Rei. "You know," Mana sighed, "it's better if you have someone you want to... attract there."

"Ah," Rei nodded.

Later, after class Shinji, Asuka and Rei headed off, walking together as they talked quietly. "So how's the suite NERV set up for you?" Shinji asked Asuka, curious as she'd been tempted to look into such a option herself.

"Lousy," Asuka shrugged, "there's no view, the reception is bad, the internet is dial-up and my nearest neighbor is her."

"Rei?" Shinji blinked.

"We're not far from each other," Rei calmly noted, "and as the building is owned by NERV it was probably convenient."

"Not to me it's not," Asuka growled out as she continued, "as soon as possible I'm looking into a alternative."

Shinji looked at Rei and noted the slightest sign of relief. 'Guess Asuka isn't that good of a neighbor,' she mused. As they reached her corner she nodded to them and said, "Well, I guess I'll see you at NERV later."

Rei nodded as Asuka said, "When we do, try not to get in my way this time?"

"Sure," Shinji waved as she let Asuka's miss-aimed barb slide off harmlessly. If anyone was to blame for their thrashing at the hands of the latest Angel it was Jet Alone, and even Asuka would have to concede the things' ability to split was unprecedented.

"Oh yes, YES!" Shinji heard a familiar voice cry as she opened the door.

'Oh no,' she thought weakly as Shinji quietly slipped her shoes off.

"Harder, faster!" Ritsuko shouted from the living room.

"You're doing great!" Misato yelped.

Dreading what she was going to see Shinji quietly made her way up the hall only to pause in surprise. Ritsuko and Misato were sitting in front of the TV, playing a older video game system Shinji had noticed was kept under the television.

As they were about to start yelling again Shinji calmly noted, "If someone overheard they might get the wrong idea."

"Oh, you're back Shin-chan," Misato said, the black haired woman in a slinky black skirt not turning away from the screen as she asked, "could you be a dear and get me a drink?"

"Misato," Ritsuko scolded, the dyed blonde also not turning away from her gaming.

Shinji chuckled as she retrieved a beer and a soda and set them by the correct parental figure. "You two do this often?" she asked, watching as armored figures shot at each other and the enemy on the screen.

Misato grinned as she used a rocket launcher, "Every few weeks we dig this out and blow things up... I think it helps relieve the tension of working at NERV."

"I guess that makes sense," Shinji conceded. After a few hours of dealing with her father, she probably would want to blow things up too.

After a final burst of explosions they finished, MIsato bumping a fist in the air as she cackled evilly. "One of these days I'll get you," Ritsuko grumbled.

"Promises, promises," Misato winked at her lover impishly.

Shinji cleared her throat as she asked, "So, are we eating dinner here or getting something up at the base?"

Reluctantly Ritsuko turned her attention to Shinji, "It's up to you, actually. I've got Maya monitoring some unusual readings in the mountains, but it's not too urgent..."

Ring! The phone interrupted Ritsuko midsentence.

"Spoke too soon," Misato muttered as she picked it up, "Katsuragi residence. Yes, Maya, she's here..."

"Damn," Ritsuko muttered under her breath as she took it then brightly said, "Yes?" She listened, a frown appearing as she nodded slightly, "All right,continue to monitor the situation. We're coming in."

"Angels?" Shinji wondered as she followed them to the door and hurriedly slipped her shoes on.

Ritsuko hopped a bit as she yanked her runners on, her white lab coat fluttering, "It's possible, but the readings are... strange."

"This is the volcano, right?" MIsato asked as she slung her usual jacket on.

"Hmm," Ritsuko nodded as they headed out to the sports car Misato preferred, "We picked up odd, almost biological readings inside the mountain... and our latest probes imply it may be a Angel."

"Imply and might doesn't sound so sure," Shinji noted as she climbed into the back seat.

Ritsuko didn't seem bothered by the question as she belted in, "The reading we've been getting have been odd, so much so we sent in a remote probe." She sounded excited, "I'll need to go over Maya's data, but it could be a Angel egg!"

"So what do we do about it?" Misato asked reasonably as they peeled out and sped on the way to NERV.

"Crack it before it hatches?" Shinji suggested.

Ritsuko looked shocked, "This could be a invaluable opportunity for research!"

Shinji shook her head, "And it could try to kill us all."

MIsato cleared her throat pointedly. "It isn't a decision that'll be made on our level anyway," she reminded them both as they ripped across the city then down through the tunnel access to NERV.

Not long after they split off, Ritsuko hurrying off to run through the data as Misato and Shinji ordered takeout to be delivered to NERV. "It'll be about twenty minutes," Shinji reported, putting down the phone, "I ordered extra for Rei and Asuka, just in case."

"Good thinking," Misato agreed as they walked to a unoccupied meeting room Ritsuko had reserved, "I hadn't realized you were so fierce about the Angels, Shinji."

Shinji paused, her school skirt swirling around her legs as she looked up at Misato. "Having them try to kill me a few times," she said dryly, "has kind of influenced me a bit." With that she turned and walked on.

Misato hurried after as she mused, 'I forget sometimes how different it is for her. All of us are in danger from the Angels, but Shinji and the other pilots face a more immediate, personal danger than we do.'

"About time," Asuka looked up from where she had taken a seat, her eyes more welcoming than her tone of voice.

"Welcome, Major," Rei addressed Misato but her gaze landed on Shinji and stayed there, lingering thoughtfully.

"Dinner's on it's way thanks to Shinji," Misato said briskly, "and once Ritsuko finishes the data analysis she'll brief Gendo then us."

"What did you order?" Asuka asked as Shinji took a open seat spaced evenly between Rei and Asuka.

"Chinese," Shinji said, "they usually send extra in case any of the staff wants some, too."

Asuna reluctantly said, "I suppose so."

Misato watched with some amusement as Shinji attempted to keep the peace between the two polar opposite girls even as she included Misato. Thankfully Ritsuko arrived not long after, the set of her shoulders showing she was in her chief scientist mode.

"We've confirmed that the entity is a unborn Angel," Ritsuko said briskly as she activated the monitor in the room to show a cut away simulation of the mountain's interior, "and Commander Ikari has ordered a retrieval mission."

To be continued...


	17. Launch Sixteen!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Sixteen!

Alarms wailed as the lava bubbled and churned as they watched from the lip, a trailer containing a portable command center sitting nearby. "No," Ritsuko hissed as the blonde scientist clutched the console, "the egg is cracking!"

Misato frowned, studying the data. Asuka Langley had gone into the lava in her Evangelion, hoping to retrieve the still unborn Angel, but it appeared their presence alone had begun to awaken it. "Any chance you can put it asleep again?" she asked, giving Ritsuko a thoughtful look.

"No, I don't think so," Ritsuko answered flatly.

"Then this just became a standard hunt," Misato said as she switched over to communications. "Asuka, how are you holding up?" she asked.

"Hot," Asuka answered, sweating within the pilot seat of her Unit-02. Unlike it's usual sleek look the Unit-02 was bulked up by gear designed to allow it to function in the lava, making it harder to maneuver. "It's starting to move," she reported tersely, "permission to attack?"

"Permission granted," Misato answered briskly.

"Yes," Asuka hissed as she swept her Evangelion close, extending the progressive knife to try to engage the fish like thing. But even as a newborn the Angel seemed to have protective instincts, swimming away and dodging the blow.

They flailed about in a clumsy dance as the creature dodged and weaved while Asuka tried to land a blow, her normal combat prowess hampered by the unusual conditions. As MIsato watched she quietly asked, "What happens if it gets away?"

"It's adapted to life in the Earth's crust," Ritsuko said thoughtfully, "it's entirely possible it could burrow right to the Geofront."

Misato gulped, "Then it's got to be stopped here."

Just then they watched Asuka close with the beast, her knife flash out and she gutted it most finally. There was a moment of silence then Asuka growled out, "Now could someone get me out of here?"

It took a few minutes for the powerful winch to drag the Evangelion up to the surface, and with a hiss of steam coolant was poured over the steaming machine and the remains of the Angel. Crews swarmed over it as soon as it was safe, studying the now inert life form even as crews helped Asuka get out of the entry plug.

"Good work," Shinji Ikari noted, the black haired woman smiling wryly. Part of her wished her help was needed, while on the other hand she knew Asuka had needed to do this to prove her skills once more.

"Yeah, I was good wasn't I?" Asuka smirked as she dried off, trying to get the last of the LCL off of her.

"Hmm," Rei Ayanami made a agreeable sound, the light blue haired girl standing nearby.

"Well done ladies," Misato said as she hurried down, her black hair falling over her shoulders. She looked oddly informal for a military officer in her miniskirt, but somehow the look still suited her.

"Thank you, ma'am," Asuka smiled sweetly.

"And thank you for recovering the body," Ritsuko added a bit more wryly. Obviously she would have preferred a live angel captive, but disecting a reasonably intact corpse was a good secondary option.

They walked away from the lava bit and temporary staging area set up as they headed towards the military trucks that had brought them here. All around them the staff of NERV had been mobilized, collecting the angel's body, clearing the launch equipment from the site and preparing to haul it all back to their home base. And right in the middle was Maya Ibuki, the black haired officer running things with skill and humor.

Maya turned to see Ritsuko and Misato standing so close hand had to firmly step on her jealousy. She had admired the older woman for years but it was clear her attentions were focused on someone else. She turned back to her work and frowned as a familiar figure watched them work. "Mr. Kaji," she strode towards him, "are you authorized to be here?"

"No one stopped my when I got on the truck," Kaji said with some amusement.

'Remind me to step up security,' Maya thought with a grimace. Keeping her expression cool she said, "I think you'd better go."

"Of course," Kaji smiled, "I think I'll go catch up with Misato."

Knowing how much the man annoyed the Major Maya hid a smile, "Good idea."

Seeing him sauntering over to them Asuka smiled happily and nearly pounced on him as she cried, "Kaji!"

He caught her with a chuckle as Kaji said, "Nicely done."

"What are you doing here?" Misato growled out, a vein throbbing on the side of her head.

"I couldn't bare to be parted from you," Kaji winked.

"Kaji," Misato grit her teeth.

Ritsuko hid a smile, knowing her lover would not be happy to see her amusement. "I'd stop teasing her," she addressed him, "while you still can."

"Spoilsport," Kaji winked, "why not dump her and go out with me instead?"

"Kaji!" Misato snapped.

"Not to be rude, Kaji, but Misato," Ritsuko reached out to take her hand, "keeps me very satisfied."

"Too much information," Asuka winced visibly.

A faint blush colored Kaji's cheeks too but he recovered fairly quickly. "So," he asked curiously, "what kind of reward can our fearless heroes expect?"

"Reward?" Misato blinked.

"Well, they have finished the assignment and they don't have classes because of the Okinawa trip," Kaji noted, "why not let them do something?"

Ritsuko paused, "He does have a point..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Whoo, hoo!" Ritsuko cheered as Misato emerged dressed in a very brief bikini, her top barely concealing her full breasts.

"Ritsuko," MIsato blushed, usually painfully aware of the vivid white scar that ran down her chest. But she knew she was beautiful in Ritsuko's eyes and that was all that mattered. Ritsuko herself was wearing a similar set of bikini, in pale blue.

"You two mind?" Shinji asked wryly as she came out of the changing room by the beach in a much more moderate suit, a sleek one piece in blue.

"Why do we need to wear these?" Rei asked mildly as she emerged in her own swim wear, a black two piece that set off nicely her pale skin.

"You can't wear your school uniform everywhere," Shinji noted mildly as Asuka left the changing room in a bright red bikini that was so skimpy it should have been illegal.

However, Asuka's expression of annoyance really didn't go with the look. "Why did Kaji suggest this and not come along?" she complained bitterly.

'Because he didn't wanrt to get assaulted by you?' was the first response that came to Shinji's mind, but she decided it would be a bad idea to mention that. "Maybe he had work to do at NERV?" she offered.

"Yeah, yeah," Asuka stomped by her to the beach.

Not far from Tokyo-3 the beach was originally part of a inland park, swamped by the rising sea levels. Converted into a beach with the importing of plenty of sand it was actually pretty good, as long as you ignored the sunken buildings off in the distance.

"Ah, this is nice," Misato conceded as they spread out a large blanket so she and Ritsuko could tan together.

"Be careful swimming out there," Ritsuko called to the young women as she opened up a tube of suntan lotion.

"Yeah...," Misato started only to squeal in shock as Ritsuko spread some lotion on, "Rits, that's cold!"

"You're so cute when you make that noise," Ritsuko laughed.

"When does she make that noise?" Rei asked curiously.

Shinji sighed, "Trust me, you do not want to know."

Asuka looked over at her in surprise as she asked, "And how come you're so familiar with her noises?"

"Got home early one day," Shinji replied as they spread out their own towels, "and it looks like they got frisky."

Asuka shuddered, "There's a mental image I did not want."

Rei sat on the sand, staring out at the water with a contemplative look, her skin already reddening a bit. "You're going to burn," Shinji frowned as she grabbed another container of suntan lotion, "here, let me help you."

"Thank you," Rei actually smiled a bit as Shinji helped her cover her bare skin with the lotion. She looked at her curiously, "Should I make funny noises like Misato?"

"No, I don't think that's needed," Shinji laughed.

To be continued...

Notes: Yes, Asuka makes VERY short work of the Angel, but that was intentional. It's interesting in the Evangelion series Asuka is SUPPOSED to be a incredible pilot, but she rarely if ever shows that kind of skill. Therefore, I figured I'd work that in here.


	18. Interlude: Gendo Ikari

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Interlude

Gendo Ikari paused as he turned in his chair and looked out the window of his office, gazing out at the fortress built beneath the earth in the Geofront. His round glasses gleamed as the black haired man returned to his desk, sighing at the paperwork that awaited him.

"Yui...," Gendo sighed softly, feeling a immense weight of guilt and responsibility weighing him down.

It had been a long time since Yui Ikari had been sent into Evangelion Unit 01, but it felt like an eternity to the man. He understood and accepted the necessity of the plan, but that didn't ease the deep loneliness he felt whenever he thought of her now. Yui had been his guide and light, and without her he simply felt rudderless.

'The only thing left for me is the Human Instrumentality project,' Gendo admitted, 'and fulfilling Yui's plans.' Maybe if Gendo had developed a lesser love for another woman he might have not been so driven, but that purpose was all that gave his life meaning, now.

A knock on his office door thankfully pulled him from his thoughts as Gendo turned to answer it and call, "Yes?"

Fuyutsuki entered the office confidently, his steel grey hair combed back neatly as he walked over to the desk. "We've heard back from Misato and Ritsuko's team," he said as he set the papers down by Gendo, "they were unable to capture the angel alive but they did recover a mostly intact corpse."

"Good," Gendo nodded briskly, "with the way Angels tend to self destruct after battle, we've had limited samples to study."

Confidently Fuyutsuki continued, "We have a transportation arranged to carry it back to NERV for further study."

"Who'll be in charge of transporting it?" Gendo asked, knowing how potentially valuable the remains were.

"Maya Ibuki," Fuyutsuki answered promptly, "she's one of Ritsuko's team, a steady officer and good under pressure."

"Good. And the pilots?" Gendo asked after he finished.

"The Angel was defeated quickly by Asuka," Fuyutsuki reported, "with no significant injury other than a bit of dehydration."

"Fine," Gendo nodded, "we need her, Shinji and Rei available for their roles in the next stage of our plans. When can we expect them back at the base?"

Fuyutsuki actually looked amused as he said respectfully, "I think their arrival hp..might be delayed a bit."

"Eh?" Gendo looked at him curiously.

Chuckling softly Fuyutsuki continued, "It seems Misato wanted to make it up for Rei, Asuka and Shinji missing their class' Okinawa trip, so she's taken the three of them down to the beach with Ritsuko as a added chaperon."

"I rather doubt those two will be doing much watching," Gendo said wryly

"No, probably not," Fuyutsuki conceded with a wry smile of his own. Somewhat more seriously he asked, "Would you like to call them in?"

Gendo silently weighed the issue, considering several sides to the situation. On one hand he was somewhat disappointed that Ritsuko would not be doing the corpse examination immediately, but on the other hand he also knew how much the pilots needed breaks, too. Not only that, but this would give the pilots a opportunity to bond in a environment away from their usual haunts.

"No," Gendo said after a moment, "let them have their day out. They'll be back to work soon enough."

"True enough," Fuyutsuki agreed.

Gendo looked thoughtful, "Have we heard from our contact at Jet Alone?"

Fuyutsuki frowned, "They're repaired the damage they suffered in the attack of the dual-angels, and their pilot is recovering as well."

"That's Mana Kirishima," Gendo dug up the name from his memory, "she was originally a candidate for Evangelion."

"As picked by Marduk," Fuyutsuki agreed. "We're still trying to determine if she was chosen for Jet Alone because the list was leaked, or simply because of a combination of age and physical ability."

"Keep checking, I'd like to know if it was a leak," Gendo ordered. He pushed up his glasses casually, "Have we confirmed SEELE's involvement?"

"It's difficult to be certain with all the shell companies involved," Fuyutsuki said with a disapproving glance, "but yes, it appears much of Jet Alone's funding came from them."

"But why?" Gendo mused aloud as he turned in his chair, spinning slowly around. "Do they seriously intend to use it against the Angels?" he wondered, "Or is it a possible trump card to use against NERV if needed?"

"Either way they need to alter it to deal with AT fields," Fuyutsuki pointed out.

"They have a human pilot," Gendo shrugged, "eventually they will crack the mystery of using the AT fields."

"And yet your own contact is providing Jet Alone with samples of our technology?" even Fuyutsuki sounded a bit confused

"This way," Gendo said with a evil smirk, "we'll know exactly what technology they have and how to counter it."

"I see," Fuyutsuki nodded thoughtfully as he conceded the point. He paused before adding in a grim tone of voice, "I also included in the reports our latest information on the activities of NERV Inspector Ryoji Kaji."

Gendo found the papers and looked them over, "Do you think he's our leak to the Japanese Military?"

"It's possible," Fuyutsuki admitted reluctantly, "but we can't confirm it, yet. He's too damn slippery on his time off."

"What's he doing that makes him so hard to track?" Gendo wondered.

"Ah," Fuyutsuki actually looked embarrassed as he explained, "he's visiting rather high class prostitutes."

Gendo's glasses slid down as he looked in surprise at his second in command, "Wait, what did you say...?"

"It appears Kaji rather enjoys visiting several a night," Fuyutsuki confirmed uncomfortably, "it's possible one or two are his military contacts, while the others are...."

"Yes, yes," Gendo waved that aside, blushing faintly. "We'll have to try to get bugs in the suites he visits most often."

"We'll get on that as soon as possible," Fuyutsuki nodded firmly. He nodded to the sheets on Gendo's desk, "There are positive reports from the US and their Unit-03 and Unit-04 are nearing completion."

"Good news," Gendo nodded thoughtfully, "and the S squared engine?"

"Installed," Fuyutsuki said, "but they're being very cautious running the power up tests."

Gendo made a face at that, "Understandable, considering the things that could go wrong."

"I wish we could have handled the manufacturing of Unit-03 and Unit-04 here in Japan," Fuyutsuki confessed.

"I'd rather have them here under our control too," Gendo agreed, "but to get the United Nations to fund NERV we needed to disperse the work."

"It's not the control that bothers me," Fuyutsuki said seriously, "it's the potential for security breaches."

Gendo raised his eyebrows, "So instead of Kaji do you think the United States is leaking information back to the Japanese Government?"

Fuyutsuki nodded, "It's certainly possible."

"So many enemies," Gendo muttered, "the Angels, SEELE, the government...."

For a long moment Fuyutsuki let him stew then asked, "Sir, what should we do about this situation?"

"Continue to monitor it," Gendo looked up at Fuyutsuki with a searching look, "and find me confirmation."

Fuyutsuki stood up straight and saluted, "Yes, sir." With that he left, slipping out of the darkness and out into the well lit hallways.

Gendo closed his eyes tiredly, then turned to a monitor built into his desk, dialing through images until he came across the one he wanted. Within the tank dozens of women floated in a sea of LCL, all possessing the eerie resemblance.

"Yui," Gendo touched the screen as he murmured, "someday I will save you,,,

To be continued....


	19. Launch Seventeen

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Seventeen!

"You did WHAT?!" Mana Kirishima growled, the brown haired young woman looking at Shinji with annoyance.

Shinji sighed, wishing she hadn't even mentioned why she got sunburned. "We went to a local beach to make up for missing the class trip out to Okinawa," the dark brown haired girl explained tiredly.

"It wasn't too bad," Asuka admitted, the redhead sitting nearby as she casually sat back in her chair. Most of the rest of the class was still off on the trip so the young women had the classroom all to themselves.

"Damn," Mana sighed, "I wish I could have gone."

"Misato complained she got sand up her...," Rei started cooly, the blue haired girl sitting in a desk nearby.

"Hush," Shinji quickly muffled the next comment.

Mana thought of Shinji's brash, blustery guardian and resolved, "I don't want to know."

"No, you don't," Asuka agreed sourly, "and I certainly didn't need to know they were...."

"La la la la," Mana covered her ears to drown out Asuka's final words as she said firmly, "I can't hear you."

Shinji smirked, "I've done that a few times myself."

"Oversharing," Mana pointed out. She looked thoughtful as she mused, "Maybe it's best I didn't go along."

"It could be," Rei noted mildly, a slight smile on her face.

Mana gave Rei a odd look. Since coming here nearly a year ago she had seen Rei a great deal, but most of the time she had been quiet and almost utterly withdrawn. Her conversing at all was a surprise, and the flickers of amusement and interest on her normally expressionless face were quite astounding.

'Is it meeting Shinji that did it?' Mana wondered, 'Or maybe Asuka?'

"Did the power outage hit you, too?" Asuka asked mildly, sipping from a drink box.

"No," Mana answered promptly, "just the city core was effected."

'Thank god we don't have to explain all that,' Shinji thought glumly as they sat around the classroom.

Not long after returning from the beach, NERV had been hit with a mysterious power outage, trapping the five of them outside the facility. She, Asuka, Rei, Misato and Ritsuko had been forced to make their way manually into NERV through emergency access routs and ventilation shafts and try to reach the command center.

Making things more complicated was the usual tension between Rei and Asuka, who really didn't deal well with being in tight quarters together. Add in no air conditioning and a crisis possibly breathing down their necks and you got a recipe for disaster. Thankfully Ritsuko was able to sit on Asuka enough to keep her under control.

So they fought their way down to the command deck where they found Gendo and the others trying to MANUALLY launch a Evangelion. Shinji boarded Unit 01 and used it to prepare the other two Evangelions before all three set out to stop the Angel attacking NERV. They pulled it off, Shinji's Evangelion suffering serious acid burns as Rei and Asuka together gunned down the spider-legged invader.

"Did something happen?" Mana asked thoughtfully.

"Just the usual at NERV," Asuka answered with a half smile on her face.

Mana smiled wryly, "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

Rei sipped her drink box then put it down. "Even if something did happen," she noted mildly, "we wouldn't be allowed to repeat it anyway."

"Never mind," Mana shook her head with a slight smile as she said, "I'll just get it out of the staff at Jet Alone."

"Fair enough," Shinji chuckled.

A teacher stuck her head into the room, blinking at them. "Oh, you're the students who had to stay behind?" she asked.

"Obviously," Asuka muttered under her breath before smiling brightly and loudly answering, "Yes, ma'am."

"You can just do free reading till the end of class," the blonde said casually, "then go home one the bell rings."

"Thank you," Shinji called as the teacher ambled off.

"All right," Asuka grinned, "we just have to wait a few minutes then we can take off."

"Don't you think they'll check on us?" Mana looked a little worried.

"I really don't think they care," Asuka said dryly.

About twenty minutes later and the group of women were out in the sun, strolling down the street in their school uniforms. "Wish I had brought a change of clothes," Shinji admitted, her school skirt swirling around her legs..

"At least we're not in new Akhiabara," Mana noted, "they'd think Asuka is cosplaying as a catgirl wearing her nerve clips."

"Heh," Asuka chuckled as she touched the cone like devices on her head, "I like wearing them, it lets people know I'm a pilot."

"I'd rather they didn't know," Rei noted mildly.

"How about you, Shinji?" Mana asked her curiously.

Shinji shook her head, "I'd rather people not know either." She sighed, "As it is, it's probably all over the school by now."

Asuka sniffed, "You should be proud of yourself."

"That's what Misato keeps telling me," Shinji agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Misato scowled as the black haired woman confronted the various managers. "You're telling me no one knows how we lost power?" she demanded, her usual combination of red jacket and NERV uniform looking oddly intense today.

Several uncomfortable looks were exchanged then Maya Ibuki stepped forward. The brown haired woman took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I can explain the sequence of events that killed power, but I can't tell you how it started."

"Why?" Misato asked thoughtfully.

"Because someone either hacked the Magi or had high level access and erased portions of the record," Maya explained grimly.

Misato raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Is that even possible?"

"Yes, I confirmed the erasure," Ritsuko said, the blonde sighing softly, "While I thought our computer security was inpenerable, it appears I was wrong."

"Inside job?" Makoto asked, the young man frowning.

"That's the current theory," Ritsuko looked unhappy as she said, "but we're still trying to confirm it." She smiled grimly, "Whoever it was also killed internal security for ten minutes before the outage, when we think the attack took place."

"So no video records inside of who might have done it," Misato nodded grimly. She rubbed her temples with her fingers, "Gendo is not going to like hearing that."

Maya smiled weakly, "Sorry, ma'am."

"We'll also keep digging," Ritsuko added, "if there's any traces left in the Magi of how they did it, we'll find it."

"Thabks," Misato nodded then moved on to the next thing on the agenda. "Makoto," she turned to him, "what's the progress on the repairs?"

Makoto rose as he said, "We've already rebuilt on the surface where the Angel dissolved it's way in." He checked his notes, "Repairing the inner layers of armor will take time, however."

Misato nodded glumly, "Understood." She looked at Ritsuko, "And Unit 01?"

"The Evangelion's armor was badly melted but we can swap in spares fairly easily," Ritsuko noted, "thankfully the damage was only cosmetic."

"Good enough," Misato finished briskly, "I'll pass the information on to Commander Ikari." She gave everyone a serious nod, "Good work."

To be continued....


	20. Launch Eighteen

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Eighteen.

Mayumi Yamagishi paused in the launch bay, studying the awkward looking machine that was known as Jet Alone. It looked almost like a bit player in a bad monster movie, with a bulky carrot shaped main body and segmented arms that could bend and move with eerie agility. The blank 'head' stared out at the world impassively, the robot lifeless without it's pilot. Today it was battered and burned, but it was also victorious.

'I still can't believe we did it,' Mayumi admitted to herself as she leaned on the railing.

When the latest Angel appeared in Earth's orbit, it began dropping pieces of it's regenerating body on the Earth, bombing Tokyo-3. It was quickly confirmed that it was aiming at NERV itself, but as it was perfecting it's aim Jet Alone was already on the move. The Evangelion robots could not be launched into orbit after the entity, but Jet Alone was based off of what was originally planned to be a multi-environment robot. It could survive both a space launch and orbit, so a decision was made to launch it into space after the Angel.

Keita Asari stood nearby, his black hair falling into his eyes. The pilot trainee had been back up on the mission, following Mana into orbit on the space shuttle, and his expression was oddly haunted. "Miss Yamagishi," he nodded respectfully as she neared.

"How was it?" Mayumi asked curiously.

"Odd," Keita admitted honestly. "This was the first time we deployed a AT Field in combat, and I understand it responded... strangely." He shrugged, "I would almost wonder if it was alive."

"Hmm," Mayumi nodded slightly. The interface of human and electronic systems was what produced the AT Field, and in reality they had more questions about it than answers.

Keita looked at her thoughtfully, "How's Mana?"

"All right," Mayumi said, "there was some feedback through the systems but she appears to be recovering nicely. However, we're keeping you on standby, just in case."

"Understood, ma'am," Keita saluted.

Mayumi smiled at him wryly, "Don't get formal, okay? We're not military remember."

Keita smiled, "Yes, ma'am."

Mayumi rolled her eyes.

Meanwhile, Mana Kirishima winced as she walked through her apartment, a single bedroom suite not far from the Jet Alone facilities and the school. It was a pretty spartan place with just a bedroom, kitchenette and living room, but it was home. Dressed in a set of men's pajamas she was decent, if not stylish looking, so she decided to skip changing clothes.

Mana shuffled over to the door, wincing a little at her sore muscles then pressed the answering buzzer as she asked, "Yes?"

"It's Shinji," the familiar young woman's voice answered her.

Mana raised her eyebrows, mildly surprised. She hadn't heard from the NERV pilots after Jet Alone had stopped the angel, and to be honest she wasn't sure how they were going to react. With a sigh she unlocked the door, opening it as she smiled weakly, "Hello."

Asuka Soryu Langley was revealed standing there in the doorway, a frown on her face as she looked Mana over and demanded, "What are you doing out of bed? You're a mess."

"Answering the door," Mana shot back irritably.

"Sorry," Shinji smiled slightly from where she stood a little behind Asuka as she added, "I told Asuka to wait to hold the victory party, but...."

"Come on," Asuka shocked Mana by bodily picking the shaky young woman up, hefting her in her arms with ease. "Where's the bedroom?" the orange haired girl grunted, her school uniform skirt swirling around her long legs.

"Put me down!" Mana sqwalked, kicking her legs but not struggling too hard.

"Through there, I think," Shinji pointed as she lead the way, opening a door to reveal a neat and tidy bedroom, her boy's uniform giving her a more serious look.

"Back into bed," Asuka said briskly, "you're in no shape to be up."

"Is she always this take charge?" Mana complained as Asuka set her down on the bed, gently helping her get comfortable once more.

Shinji grinned back, "Pretty much, yeah."

Asuka gave her a look, "You'll pay for that remark, Ikari."

Shinji laughed, "I'm quaking in my boots."

"We wanted to congratulate you on beating that thing," Asuka said somewhat more quietly. She smiled wryly, "The best plan our bosses could come up with was for us to try to catch it!"

"You're kidding," Maya looked up at her in surprise.

"Nope," Asuna said, "that was it. Stupid, huh?"

In another part of the city Ritsuko sneezed for no apparent reason. "You all right?" MIsato asked, looking over at her lover in concern.

"I'm fine," Ritsuko blinked, "I don't know why I sneezed, tho."

Misato shrugged, "Well, there is that old story that you sneeze when someone talks about you...."

Mana sat up in her bed, smiling gratefully as Shinji heated her up some chicken soup. "Thank you for cooking," she said a bit sheepishly, "my supervisor at Jet Alone came over to take care of me yesterday, but I think she's actually worse at cooking than I am."

Shinji chuckled, thinking of the amount of takeout that she, Ritsuko and Misato went through every few days. "I think it might be a side effect of being that busy," she admitted.

"You too?" Mana asked.

Asuka snickered, having been invited to the home for dinner one. "I looked at their phone," she said with a smirk, "they have every take out place in the city on speed dial."

Shinji took the pan off the small stove and carefully set it on a section of the counter scarred from similar usage. "Soup's done," she announced, getting a bowl and spoon out after looking through drawers for a moment.

Asuka set up a improvised tray for Mana as they got her some plain crackers down to go with the soup. "We'll leave you to eat," Asuka said with a smile, "rest up, okay? I think we still need to have a party for you too."

Mana smiled at them warmly, "Thank you both."

"No problem," Shinji smiled back as the two young women left.

Asuka was frowning as they walked down the outside walkway, "I don't like how alone she is,"

Shinji gave Asuka a wary look. It wasn't typical of the outgoing young woman to be so concerned with another person, at least as far as she could tell. "Worried about her?" she asked.

"Of course not," Asuka huffed, looking annoyed. She shrugged as they took the stairs down, "I was thinking of asking if she wanted to be roomies."

"Huh?" Shinji stopped, looking at her in surprise.

Asuka gave her a irritated look, "Don't just freeze like that, you'll attract attention."

"Sorry," Shinji started walking forward again as she asked her, "why would you want to be roomies?"

"We're both in government housing, me through NERV and her through Jet Alone," Asuka shrugged, "if we were to move in together we could get a larger place and more added conveniences."

"I kinda imagine Gendo'd have issues with that," Shinji noted dryly, shaking her head.

"We're all on the same side, aren't we?' Asuka waved that off casually.

Shinji made a face, "Maybe. But knowing my dear dad," she added sarcastically, "he has a agenda all his own."

To be continued....


	21. Launch Nineteen

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Nineteen!

Kaji carefully made his was through the NERV facility, maintaining a casual walk while moving through the halls. Years ago he had learned the trick of getting into places people didn't want you seeing: act like you belong and no one will ask.

The under levels of NERV were oddly deserted as Kaji walked, the hallway dimly lit. Digging through Gendo's files he had found references to something called Terminal Dogma, and he was curious to see what it was. The security access to these sections was high, only his hacking skills had gotten him by the outer barriers. Inside was watched by cameras and scanners, but Kaji carried a device that would confuse them all.

'At least, that's the theory,' Kaji thought as he reached the armored doors. Taking out a stolen NERV identification card and a box with wires attached from his pocket he checked the scanner over, then carefully attached the device. Taking a deep breath he swiped the card, relaxing as no alarm chimed and the doors began to slowly open.

Kaji slipped through as soon as he could, walking forwards eagerly. He saw a massive chamber within, and off in the distance he could nearly see a figure. Walking forward some more he squinted then his eyes widened as he muttered, "Is that...?"

Before he could say anything more a expertly delivered blow sent him crashing to the ground. Kaji tried to catch himself before he fell but a second strike was already coming, aimed to finish his trip into unconsciousness.

Maya Ibuki emerged from the shadows, the black haired woman studying him regretfully. "You shouldn't be here, Mr. Kaji," she noted as she bent down and examined him. She looked up at her companion, "Do we need to... remove him?"

Kozo Fuyutsuki shook his head as the gray haired man bent down to haul up Kaji. "It would raise too many questions," he said, glad he and Maya had been asked by Gendo to keep an eye on the man, "besides, I have an idea."

"Oh?" Maya asked as she helped him carry the man.

"The device for recording the memories of the Ayanami clones can also edit them to a extent," the old man noted.

Maya nodded eagerly, "We could use it to delete Kaji's memories of being here."

"Exactly," Fuyutsuki agreed.

Later that day Gendo Ikari listened to his subordinates' reports in his office, looking out over the city. "So where did you dump him?" he asked thoughtfully.

Fuyutsuki actually smirked a bit as he said, "He'll wake up in a hotel in the city, the same one he visits with his prostitute contacts."

Gendo smiled back. "And his memory of Terminal Dogma?" he asked.

"Hazy is not completely gone," Maya reported. "A normal human mind is less structured than Ayanami's, but I feel confident we successfully damaged those memories."

"Good enough," Gendo said then made a face, "we need to improve internal security, his stealing a access card is proof of that."

"Normally we'd ask Misato to look into it, but...." Fuyutsuki shrugged slightly. "We need to keep her at least partially in the dark."

Maya lifted her head nervously as she said, "With some assistance I think I could do it."

Gendo looked at her thoughtfully a moment then he nodded decisively. "All right," he said, "review our current procedures, then offer me a list of recommendations to prevent a second such incident."

"Will do," Maya agreed eagerly.

Once Maya left Fuyutsuki looked at Gendo seriously, "Is it such a good idea to give someone so young such responsibility?"

"She is young and unformed," Gendo said with a slight smile, "and therefore most easily shaped to our needs." He waved off the older man's concern, "It will be fine."

"I hope so," Fuyutsuki sighed.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city Mayumi Yamagishi opened the door to a hotel room, the older woman nodding greetings to the red-brown headed prostitute who waited within. "Could I have my usual?" Mayumi asked her as she shrugged off her suit's black jacket, revealing perky breasts under a white blouse.

Mari Illustrious Makinami smiled as she pushed up her glasses, "Of course miss." The young woman's robe flowed around her as she lead Mayumi to the bed, revealing and hiding her near nudity as she instructed, "Just lay down here."

"Thank you," Mayumi laid down on her stomach with a sigh as Mari climbed up on her, gently massaging her tense shoulders. "Oooh," she sighed as the girl eased muscles tense from stress and work, "that feels good."

Mari smirked as she rubbed her neck gently, then bent forward to kiss her ear. "I could make you feel even better if you like," she purred into her ear, letting her tongue flick out to stroke along Mayumi's pink ear.

"Ah!" Mayumi laughed softly as she answered her, "It's tempting, but no. I'm just here because you're the best masseuse in town."

"Spoil sport," Mari murmured, still laying atop her. Much more quietly she said, "Kaji was in."

Mayumi's eyes widened eagerly as she whispered, "What happened?"

"He made it in into the secret zones," Mari said softly as she wiggled against Mayumi's back, "at least according to the camera you hid on him. He got clobbered before too much came up on film, but I have a copy of the recording."

As Mari writhed against Mayumi's back convincingly she slipped a small recorder into her hand. "Thank you," Mayumi moaned out. "Are they spying on you?" she whispered, "Are you doing that to keep cover?"

Biting her Mari smirked, "Nah, it's just fun."

"Mari!" Mayumi yelped angrily as they ended up in a tangle on the bed.

Mari Illustrious Makinami had started out as a candidate for Jet Alone, but had proven too irresponsible for Mayumi's superiors. Still, Mayumi kept in contact with the sixteen year old as she dropped out of school, ended up in bad company and with Mayumi's help rented a small apartment. Later when Mayumi needed someone to be a conduit between her and Kaji, Mari instantly came to mind. Of course, times like these she regretted that....

"Sorry," Mari laughed, nearly sitting in Mayumi's lap.

"I doubt that," Mayumi answered, slipping the recorder into her pants pocket. Quietly she said, "You don't need to keep doing this, you know. You're bright, I'm sure I can...."

"Get me back in school?" Mari finished the sentence as she looked into Mayumi's eyes. She shook her head no, "You know as well as I do that I couldn't last back in school. I'm too used to having my freedom, love."

"Freedom doesn't have to be like this," Mayumi sighed.

Mari snickered softly as she said, "This is freedom to me." She smirked as she told her, "Don't knock it till you've tried it."

"Perv," Mayumi said weakly, suddenly feeling more than a bit aware of the nearly naked woman in her arms. Her breasts pressed up against her arm as Mari wiggled fetchingly, her perfume teasing Mayumi's nose.

"Never denied it," Mari agreed cheerfully. She looked intently into Mayumi's eyes as she challenged her, "Well?"

"I...," Mayumi croaked, then cleared her throat. "I suppose I could go over the data later," she said, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"Oh, good," Mari purred, gently pushing Mayumi down onto the bed.

To be continued....

Notes: While Mari Illustrious Makinami is a character in the new Evangelion movie, all I am doing is using is her name. This portrayal has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with that movie, I'm just borrowing the name for a recurring character.


	22. Launch Twenty

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies  
Launch Twenty

"I confirm it's a Iruel attack!" Ritsuko yelled as alarms wailed within NERV, the computer center busy with typing keys and screens filled with data as she, Maya, Aoba, and Motoko worked frantically, Asuka watching nearby.

"Iruel?" Shinji Ikari asked from the command center.

The black haired young woman was sitting in a monitor seat nervously, the normal bridge staff having been hauled away to assist with the emergency. The pilots had been doing synch tests when the alarm first sounded, then as Ritsuko became more aware of the situation she drafted the bridge crew and left Misato, Shinji and Rei to hold the fort.

"It's a code word we devised to discuss hacking attacks on the Magi computer system," Misato explained to her as the black haired older woman sat in a monitor seat too, checking over the data flow in systems all through the geofront. "Rits, what's our status?" she asked.

"Our analysis of the attack is still tentative," Ritsuko cautioned as the blond officer bent over a console studying the data then said, "but it looks like someone slipped a nanite supported infection into NERV when we lost power."

"Nanite?" Shinji whispered the question over to Rei, gambling that the usually quiet young woman would know.

"Microscopic machines that can be programed for multiple functions," Rei whispered back as the pale girl monitored the exterior of Tokyo-3 for possible attacks, "They are barely within our capability to create."

"All right, is the nanite spreading?" Misato demanded, considering possible responses right up to detonating a N2 mine in the facility itself.

"We killed the nanites and vaporized the infected material," Ritsuko said bluntly, "but the virus itself spread into the Magi. We're trying to contain and remove it, but it's rough going."

"Move aside, baka," the watching Asuka finally shoved Aoba aside and began to type. Studying the progression of the virus on the screens she had a basic understanding of it, soon devising counter systems to the virus on the fly. Beside her Maya Ibuki worked as well, watching Asuka's coding then supporting her with her own work.

"Holy shit," Mokoto blinked, the long haired young man watching them in awe, the screen filling up with their work every few seconds.

"Well, she is supposed to be a genius," Aoba admitted, the shorter man pushing his hair out of his face as he tried to keep up.

Seeing that her four assistants had the coding well in hand Ritsuko consulted the hardware issues. "Misato, can I have permission to cut the physical connections between the Magi?" she asked, knowing the operations officer had to give permission before they did so.

"If you need to, do it," Misato gave the order calmly. "We can even deploy a Evangelion to do the chopping."

"I think that'd be a little excessive," Ritsuko offered dryly, already having a solution in mind. She walked over to a panel and slid aside a piece of plastic covering up a big red button.

"Why is it always a big red button?" Aoba had to ask, having seen enough science fiction to guess what it might do.

"Style?" Ritsuko answered him with a shrug as she pushed it, triggering several small explosive charges that had been built into the lines connecting the three Magi systems. Even if this had been a intelligent assault on NERV they couldn't stop the bombs, the detonators themselves were hardwired into the system.

Sitting at his desk observing the situation Gendo's face didn't echo the surprise that he felt as they heard the booms. "Did you know she put explosive charges in the Magi?" he asked mildly, looking over at his second in command

Kozo Fuyutsuki stood at attention beside him, the grey haired older man looking rather uncomfortable as he admitted, "No, I did not." He paused before adding, "Where else do you think she might have planted...?"

Gendo Ikari sighed, his glasses gleaming as he looked off in the distance. "I believe you and your new assistant are going to need to go over Ritsuko's requisitions and expenses for at least the last several months, possibly longer. We need to know how much explosive she acquired and where they went," he said flatly.

"Yes sir," Kozo sighed.

"I was also unaware Asuka was that skilled," Gendo added thoughtfully, planning to take another, much more deeper look at her school records. A pilot with tactical skills was good, but a pilot who knew too much... might be trouble.

Meanwhile, back in the computer lab Ritsuko frowned as she studied the infected Magi computer via a closed link to a isolated terminal. Even if the infection tried to spread once more, it would only get to this terminal, not the rest of the system.

"The virus mutates and evolves at a incredible rate," Ritsuko noted with a frown, "I would almost think it's alive."

"Depends on your definition of alive," Asuka sat back from her coding with a tired sigh, "the way it reproduces and grows, it could be said to be alive." She smiled wryly as she added, "I'm just glad it doesn't seem intelligent."

"Commander Ikari," Ritsuko contacted him formally, "we are going to completely shut down the infected Magi then remove the unit. I intend to do a forensic examination of it, but what do you want done with it afterwards?"

"Destroy it," Gendo ordered her flatly, "we do not want to risk a renewed infection."

"Understood," Ritsuko agreed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Nice job," Ritsuko congratulated Asuka as the group of women left NERV headquarters together. They had driven a NERV mini-van to a parking lot not far from the apartment four of them shared, and got out to walk. Misato and Ritsuko walked close together as usual, while Asuka, Rei and Shinji tended to bunch together. "I didn't realize you were that accomplished of a computer programmer," Ritsuko noted.

"I've taken a few courses," Asuka said modestly, "I was glad to help." Honesty also compelled her to add, "Maya was quite helpful too."

"Yes, she was," Ritsuko mused thoughtfully.

Misato gave her lover a look, but decided not to ask just yet. She smiled at Asuka, "Would you like to join us for dinner? There's a new restaurant I was thinking of trying out...."

Asuka had to resist a laugh at that. Both Ritsuko and Misato either didn't have time to cook or couldn't, and nearly lived off of take out or store bought meals. "No thanks," she refused politely, "I need to get my stuff unpacked in my new apartment."

"You moved out of NERV housing?" Shinji asked, feeling faintly surprised that she hadn't heard about it yet.

"She put in her request for a housing stipend a few days ago," Misato told her with a smile, having been the one the request had gone to. "We granted it, of course."

"And it's less than the rent of that shoebox Gendo stuck her in," Shinji noted with a frown, knowing that the reduced funds were another way of making Asuka stay put.

"It's not a shoebox," Rei noted mildly. A slight smile appeared as she added, "A shoebox would have been cleaner."

Ritsuko snickered, "Good one."

"Anyway," Asuka said as they neared the building, "my money plus that of a certain friend was enough to rent a decent two bedroom apartment." She sighed as she added, "It's in a kind of bad neighborhood, though."

"How so?" Misato asked.

As they drew nearer they saw a pile of boxes just up the row of apartments from the one they lived in. Suddenly Mana Kirishima stepped out from behind a stack of boxes as she complained, "Asuka, you said you'd help me unpack! Where were you?"

"Something came up at work," Asuka apologized as she picked up a box.

"You're living together?" Ritsuko blurted.

"We're a bad neighborhood?" Misato yelped before chasing Asuka, "Get back here!"

"Interesting," Rei noted while Mana just shook her head and laughed, leaning up against the boxes for support.

"Are you all right?" Shinji asked her softly, knowing how battered Mana had been just a few days ago. But she also respected the other girl's independence, and wouldn't call undue attention to her temporary weakness.

"Just stiff," Mana reassured her, "I'll be fine."

Shinji looked over at the piles of boxes thoughtfully, "Why don't we lend you a hand? That way you'll both be done faster."

"Thanks," Asuka smiled as she came back, a panting Misato following after her.

"Isn't Gendo going to object?" Ritsuko asked both girls curiously.

"Probably," Shinji mused with a smile, "but what can he do, officially? Jet Alone and NERV are both allies in defending the Earth, at least that's what they both say.."

To be continued....

Notes: Another stab at making Asuka more badass. It's canon she's at least a college graduate, so why wouldn't she have computer skills? I'm also changing canon and making the viral assault man-made, rather than a angel. It always seemed like a kinda lame episode and oddly weak for a angel, in my humble opinion.


	23. Launch Twentyone

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies  
Launch Twenty-one

Gendo Ikari calmly sat down, his glasses hiding his eyes as he gazed upon the holographic images. Each one was simply a column with a number on it, representing a member of this secret cabal that sought to control the world. They were SEELE, the ones holding the Dead Sea Scrolls, the keepers of knowledge and, in their minds, the ones who pulled the strings of the world.

"Ikari," 07 said, his voice reedy and petulant, "your NERV had to be saved by Jet Alone! And now you had a computer attack? What are you DOING?"

"My job," Gendo answered calmly, not letting a flicker of emotion cross the brown haired man's face. "We have dealt with every Angel attack so far, and the inclusion of Jet Alone into our operation has saved wear and tear on the Evangelions."

01 spoke next, his voice rumbling, "Remember, Ikari, defeating the Angels is only half the job. What of Instrumentality?"

Gendo fielded that question, "Things are proceeding on schedule, sir. I expect the required pieces will be in place, when we need them to be."

"You expect?" 03 repeated.

"There are always variables," Gendo met that with cool resolve, "the trick is managing them properly to achieve your goals."

"Manage carefully, Ikari," 09 said with a ominous undercurrent in his voice, "you do not want to see what happens if you fail us."

Gendo looked ahead calmly, "There will be no failures."

The other columns each winked out, leaving Gendo alone with 01. The column waved, becoming a old man sitting in a chair, his eyes replaced by a cybernetic visor, his body augmented in unknown ways beneath baggy clothes.

Lorenz Keel looked tired as he met Gendo's gaze. "Do not try our patience too much, Ikari," he rumbled, "you are not irreplaceable."

"Sir," Gendo nodded acknowledgment if not agreement, then the last hologram winked out, leaving Gendo sitting alone in his office. He sat there quietly a moment, then softly began to curse as his calm facade fell away.

'Things are not following my plans,' Gendo thought as he got up to pace his massive, dimly lit office, 'and worse, they're deviating from the Scrolls.' That last thought brought a chill to Gendo's spine, considering the Scrolls were supposed to be a... guide to this crisis. If they were no longer valid, or worse simply wrong, what did that mean for them all?

A soft chime signaled someone wanted in, and Gendo strode back to his desk, calming his expression once again. He hit the admittance key and Maya Ibuki entered, followed by Kozo Fuyutsuki, both walking up to the desk confidently. "Yes?" Gendo asked coolly.

"I've finished the review of internal security and have a list of improvements we can make," Maya said as the boyish looking woman extended the documents over his desk, "you'll have to determine which are most economically feasible, however."

"DNA coded access cards?" Gendo raised an eyebrow slightly on skimming the list, noting that most of the ideas made good sense.

"It's something we could bring in with current technology," Maya answered, "we'd know who was accessing what area by records, and the cards are not exchangeable."

"It is, however, expensive," Kozo added wryly.

"I'll run through the list," Gendo told Maya, "now please, excuse us."

"Sir," Maya nodded, turning around and leaving with a spring in her step.

"What do you think?" Gendo asked after she left.

"She's quite attractive, but a little young for you," Kozo mildly joked.

"Kozo," Gendo gave him a scolding look.

Kozo thought about it a moment. "I'm more confident than I was that her loyalties are to NERV," he conceded, "after you recruited her I ordered a second, more exhaustive background check and turned up nothing untoward."

"While she isn't a expert on the level of Naoko or Ritsuko, she has the skills we'll need as the endgame nears," Gendo said flatly.

"The old men aren't happy?" Kozo guessed.

"When are they ever happy?" Gendo shrugged slightly. "The deviations from the scrolls scare them, as does the interference of Jet Alone."

"We could... take steps with Jet Alone. A nuclear reactor is a touchy thing, after all," Kozo noted a trifle reluctantly, clearly feeling at least a little troubled by the idea of triggering a nuclear detonation wherever the giant robot was at the time.

"No," Gendo shook his head, "we need it, for now. If necessary, we can take such steps when the endgame comes."

"I understand," Kozo agreed.

Gendo sat back, crossing his hands thoughtfully in front of his face. "Keep a close eye on the children," he ordered, "they and Evangelion are the key."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Maya Ibuki went back to her office, a private one as benefiting her new status as head of computer sciences in NERV. Ritsuko Akagi was still her superior as head of Project E, but Maya was the next highest in the organization, theoretically anyway. Of course Maya knew her new office was bugged to the ceiling, so to speak, but her superiors had clearly forgot who they were dealing with. Bringing her terminal on line and a few seeming random keystrokes and the security cameras and bugs were all recording a very realistic simulation of her, working away on her projects.

After double checking her system was working Maya logged in to the Magi, typing away briskly. With one of the Magi down her work was actually easier, the inventive young programmer deceiving the other two that she had the correct access. It still paid to be careful, however, and Maya wasn't leaving any tracks behind her either.

Finally Maya reached the deepest layer of data, files that even Ritsuko probably didn't have access too, the virtual version of Terminal Dogma. With a certain amount of trepidation she began to read the files, and soon that concern was replaced by mounting horror.

Maya sat back in her chair, her expression slack with shock and dismay. She had known that Commander Ikari was not telling people what was going on, but she had mostly chalked it up to the needs of security. But skimming the files and putting the data together, she realized he was hiding things for a much deeper, darker reason.

'He wants to kill everyone,' Maya mused, studying the file.

Of course it didn't say THAT, instead saying that AT Fields would break down, leading to a mass group consciousness. But in Maya's opinion what that literally meant was that everyone would die and be turned into soup. Even worse, reading between the lines made Maya think he was doing it just to be reunited with his wife, currently locked inside Evangelion Unit-01.

Part of Maya could feel a certain grudging admiration for Gendo's relentless efforts, but the rest of her was dismayed. As far as she could determine Gendo intended to resurrect his wife then have her and him rule over the Instrumentality with his daughter by their side.

Maya opened a image of a test subject who had only partially became LCL, and nearly threw up. Shutting the file she saved the data to a secure, off-site location, then carefully left, erasing all traces as she went. Once she was sure she was out clean Maya sat back, considering the situation.

Maya felt certain the majority of employees at NERV would be horrified if they knew this, but she had no idea who was in this with Gendo other than Kozo. At least some staff had to be in it, and Rei Ayanami was a key component to the plan, but Gendo had not hinted in his files who was assisting him and who wasn't. Even Misato and Ritsuko could be involved, tho Maya doubted that.

Reaching out to people in NERV was out, at least until she could be sure it was safe, but just releasing the data was no good either. Yes, Maya could send the data to the news agencies, but Gendo had the ear of Presidents and power brokers. It was quite possible he could kill a story, no matter how juicy it looked. Dumping the data on the web was tempting, but it could all be discredited too easily that way, written off as a conspiracy theory.

Deciding she couldn't find a answer now, Maya went back to work, shutting down the security and bug data shunt..Updating computer security while leaving certain back doors for her kept her occupied, while letting the problem brew in the back of her mind. She was sure she would solve it, it was just a matter of time.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

This group met under the concealment of holograms, too, but for different reasons. While SEELE hid their identities from others to conceal their crimes, this group met secretly because the people they opposed could kill them in a instant. If a traitor learned their identities each person knew their lives would be over, it was only a matter of how fast they could run before they died.

Kaji saw out the visor a group of androgynous figures, each one disguised both by face and voice. Even a expert like himself couldn't tell if he was dealing with men, women or some kind of computer simulations.

The figure referred to as 'Scientist' spoke up next as he said, "We've studied the data our agent acquired from Terminal Dogma. The entity beneath NERV is most certainly a Angel."

"Do we know which one?" Kaji asked curiously.

"Not at this time," Scientist shook his head.

The 'Major' spoke up next. Kaji didn't know much about him, other than he or she was military, probably JSDF, and was the cutout between their group and the government. If they were caught she would 'officially' be on holiday, doing this on her own and probably killed with the rest of them.

"... their having an Angel isn't illegal," the Major finished, "and I doubt the spy cam is admissible in court. We need more proof to act."

'Minister' was a government official, high enough in the food chain to be worthwhile here, but not so high he couldn't be sacrificed. "It's ironic that we started digging into NERV to make sure Ikari wasn't misusing taxpayers money," he shook his head, "I don't think anyone expected this!"

One of the other members of their team was 'Officer.' He clearly had command experience, Kaji guessed, but was not high up in the military. They also had at least some connection to NERV from other things he said, but what that connection was Kaji didn't know.

"Let's review what we know," Officer suggested thoughtfully. "A covert organization known as SEELE has been manipulating events from at least before Second Impact. They might even have caused it, though we can't prove that."

Kaji took up the tale, "They manipulated the chaos around Second Impact to put their people in positions of great political power, and have been funneling large amounts of money to Gendo Ikari. First at GHERIN then at NERV they've been supporting black book, under the table research, but why we don't know."

"All we have is a phrase," Officer sounded frustrated, "the Human Instrumentality Project."

Minister seemed to look over at the Major thoughtfully and asked, "You couldn't break into NERV's systems somehow?"

"We already attempted it with a nanite and virus combo," the Major answered, "no good."

Kaji bit back the urge to blurt 'That was you?!' but it was hard to keep silent. "You might let others in the team know when you're going to try that," he said dryly.

The Major shook his head, "We couldn't risk operational security. Besides, I don't want anyone in NERV blowing their cover. We might need them later."

Kaji felt a twinge of relief that there might be another operative in NERV, then realized he might have just been talking about him.

"I was wondering," Scientist said, "maybe we're going about this all wrong. Maybe we should go after SEELE rather than NERV?"

Officer shook his head, "If we can crack NERV, we can get at SEELE. Getting SEELE is going to be much harder, considering we can barely prove it exists."

Minister sighed, "Officer's right. Besides, we can't really pin much on them other than misuse of official funds."

"I think we've gotten as far as we can, today," Major said simply. "Exchange data packets and let's be off, no reason to chance someone noticing our connecting this way."

They disconnected, leaving Kaji with a slight headache. As he removed the bulky VR gear he mused on the Major's final words, "I have a date with a scientist who's developed a conscience."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Maya Ibuki knew she shouldn't have stopped in a bar on the way home, but the young woman needed a stiff drink. She couldn't get the poor bastard who had been partially turned to LCL out of her mind. Was he still alive, in a lab somewhere, or had someone put him out of his misery?

"Here you go, Ms," the bartender smiled, her black hair falling into her face.

Maya blinked, "I didn't order this."

"Lady at the end of the bar," the bartender smiled, moving on to another customer.

Maya turned to look, blinking at the blonde haired woman at the end of the bar, dressed in a red blouse and slightly darker red skirt. She looked hot and clearly knew it, casually ignoring invitations from men and women around her. Instead she met Maya's glance and smiled, nodding slightly in welcome.

Nervously Maya picked up her drink and walked over, settling in the empty seat beside her. "Thank you for the drink," she said quietly.

"You're welcome," the blonde said, "I'm Motoko." She smiled, "I'd ask if you come here often, but this is the first time I've seen you here."

"Maya," she smiled back, "and yeah, I'm a first timer. Rough day at work."

"Then I guess it's my lucky day," Motoko winked charmingly.

To be continued....


	24. Launch Twentytwo

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies  
Launch Twenty-Two

Kensuke Aida was a otaku, and proud of it. Starting out as a military geek the light brown haired boy had moved on to being a fan of the Evangelions and their pilots. 'Especially Asuka,' he admitted as he carefully made his way down a deserted street.

The striking redhead had drawn his eye the first time they met, in a arcade in the city. She had been playing videogames when he and Toji met her, and had accidentally flashed them her panties. Then she tried to charge them a viewing fee! As they argued they drew the attention of a bunch of punks and a fight broke out, Asuka wailing on them with surprising skill.

'I don't think I ever saw anything more stunning,' Kensuke admitted to himself as he creeped forward through the deserted city.

An Angel alert had been called a hour ago, and everyone hustled off to their shelters. He, Toji and Hikari had ended up in a shelter together as usual, their friend Hikari taking command as usual. Kensuke wanted to see the angel and talked Toji into distracted Hikari long enough for him to slip away from their class and get outside the shelter.

Kensuke looked around a corner, sighing as he tried to guess how far there was to go. 'Too bad the trains aren't running,' he thought.

It took nearly ten more minutes for Kensuke Aida to reach the spot, but it was worth the effort as he took in three Evangelions, as well as the lumbering Jet Alone. They were spaced out around a strange, sphere like object that hovered in midair, patterns swirling across it's surface as it cast a dark shadow over the ground.

'Wow,' Kensuke thought as he used his camera to sweep over the four machines.

The three Evangelion were largely similar in that they were humanoid shaped fighting machines, the differences being in how refined the technology was. From what he could determine the single eyed unit was the oldest, while the red one with four eyes was the latest model.

Jet Alone looked far less refined than the others, though Kensuke noticed it had been refitted since it's last launch. The body was a bit less like a giant carrot, and the arms looked a bit more human and less like a bad '50s science fiction reject. But it still wasn't as cool looking as a Evangelion.

Panning his camera around Kensuke made his way forward, nearer to the strange shadow the Angel was casting. Maybe he was too distracted by the sights, or maybe he was too excited, but somehow someone spotted.

"Aida!" Asuka growled, her voice booming over the Evangelion's loudspeaker, "What the hell are you doing here?"

'Oh shit,' Kensuke paled, knowing that Section 2 goons were probably already on the way. As the Evangelions started to move he scanned the area, wondering where to run. From how the mecha were placed he realized the best way to escape was right between them, so he ran forward right into the Angel's shadow.

Shinji yelled, "No, don't!"

As Kensuke ran he realized he wasn't moving. Looking down he yelped as he saw he was sinking into the shadow somehow, right up to the waist, "Oh shit," he cursed, disbelievingly.

"Hold on," Rei grabbed for him with her Evangelion, but it was too late.

Kensuke looked up with desperation as the shadow enfolded him, then the world was gone into pure darkness.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me," Misato Katsuragi muttered as the black haired woman sat back, her expression grim. The command center of NERV was busy as they tried to analyze the Angel, it's attacks and try to determine it's next move.

Gendo was, thankfully, not there watching over their shoulders, but his deputy Kozo was managing just fine in his place. The older man looked grim as he said, "How did a boy manage to wander onto the battlefield?"

"That's primarily Section 2's responsibility," Maya Ibuki pointed out reasonably. "And we assume that the civilians will stay in their shelters where they are reasonably safe."

"True," Kozo conceded grimly.

Shinji Ikari's face came up on the view screen, the black haired young woman looking grim. "Do we know what happened to Ken?" she asked.

Ritsuko Akagi rubbed her eyes, feeling oddly tired. "We have a tentative theory, based on what the sensors on the Evangelions recorded," she admitted.

"You don't sound happy," Kozo noted grimly.

"This may be the oddest Angel yet," Ritsuko sighed. "As best as I can determine, the Angel is actually the two dimensional shadow, NOT the sphere."

"Seriously?" Asuka blinked, also monitoring the conversation.

"Yes," Ritsuko nodded, :"and worse, it appears to be some kind of.. dimensional opening, but to where I have no idea."

"One of us needs to go in after him," Rei said flatly.

"No," Misato said firmly, "not until we have a clearer idea of what we're dealing with."

"But...," Shinji started.

"I don't like leaving a civilian in this situation any more than you do," Misato said flatly, "but he chose to put himself there. If he stayed in his shelter he would have been fine."

"Is that your last word on the subject?" Mana Kirishima asked, the young woman frowning from the cockpit of Jet Alone.

Kozo leaned forward as he said gruffly, "No NERV staff will attempt a rescue at this time."

"That's clear enough," Mana smiled grimly, "thankfully, I'm not NERV staff." Before anyone could stop her Jet Alone wrapped a spare power cable for the Evangelions around it's arm, then took two steps towards the shadow.

"Mana, don't...," Ritsuko started.

"Asuka, keep a grip on that cord!" Mana yelled then leaped into the shadow, disappearing into the darkness with barely a ripple.

"Crap!" Misato cursed, slumping back in her seat as the Evangelions grabbed at the cable, feeding it out as Jet Alone sank into the void.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Kensuke Aida became aware almost as soon as he realized he wasn't alone. He found himself sitting on what looked like the hills outside Tokyo-3, the area he usually liked to go camping out in with army surplus gear. He made his way through the long grass to the camp site, blinking in surprise as he saw the grizzled looking older man there, dressed in army fatigues.

"About time you got here," he said, looking at him through glasses just like his own, the same shaggy hairstyle falling into his eyes.

"Dad?" Kensuke blinked.

"No," he said, chuckling softly, "want some k-rations? They're authentic JSDF issue."

Ken walked to his side, sitting on a log pulled up by the fire, the army tent nearby. "You're... me?" he asked quietly.

"Not exactly," the older Ken answered thoughtfully as he put the water filled kettle by the fire, letting it heat for tea, "I'm a possibility."

"A possibility," Ken echoed weakly.

"Hmm," the older man nodded, opening his ration tin and starting to eat. "I never became close to people, other than Toji and a few others," he said to him conversationally as he shoveled the food in, "and that stopped after Toji's death. I retreated from people into my army games, and I ended up out here living like some crazy survivalist."

Ken paled a bit, looking into the fire, "Oh."

The rustling of grass brought the older Ken to wary attention, them man holding a pistol as he glared into the night. He relaxed after a moment, "Of, it's you," he sighed, putting the gun away.

The Kensuke Aida who emerged from the darkness was about the same age as student Ken, but was otherwise very different. He wore a purple and silver plug suit that looked embarrassingly snug, and he frowned as he studied them both. "How did you get in the Dirac Sea?" he asked flatly.

"Dirac Sea?" Ken echoed, feeling dumb.

"It's a pocket dimension Leliel contains within him," pilot Ken explained patiently, "I got pulled in while I was exploring it." He looked at the two of them, "Though I suppose I'm just a possibility, not a probability, now."

For a moment Ken wondered how many possible Kens there were in the Dirac Sea, as well as how many probable other pilots too, all finding counterparts to themselves. For a moment he was overwhelmed by the idea of infinite Kens making a infinite number of possible choices, then he shook his head.

"You made a decision?" soldier Ken asked, pouring them each tea.

Ken took the cup and drank, noting it had no real flavor too it. "I have to get out of here," he looked at the metal cup, "before one of those crazies comes in after me."

Pilot Ken shrugged, "They already have." As both of them looked at him he continued, "Mana followed you in Jet Alone, I picked it up on my Evangelion's sensors. Problem is she's lost, and she only has limited life support."

Ken looked at his pilot counterpart, aghast. "We have to help her!" he exclaimed, feeling a flash of guilt for his part of the situation.

"WE can't," the older Ken said flatly.

Ken looked at the other two then into the fire, a surge of terror filling him. It was easy being a observer, playing military games and having fun. Could he change? SHOULD he change? Ken stood up, calmly setting his cup aside as he made a choice.

Pilot Ken nodded slightly, "You ready?"

"No, but what the hell," Ken answered, shrugging. He looked up at the starless night sky, realizing in his gut that he really was in a alien place. "I think I'm gonna need a ride out of here," he mused to himself aloud.

Pilot Ken grinned as the soldier seemed to fade away, "I have just the thing."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

As the time ticked down Shinji sighed, watching the shadow grimly. Jet Alone had been gone nearly a day, now, with no sign of contact. Worse, the cable had gone slack almost as soon as the war machine disappeared, severed somehow by the shadow.

"Let me go after them," Asuka nearly begged, the orange haired girl messy and visibly stressed. It seemed she had gotten a lot closer to Mana than any of them had thought...

"We're going through with the plan to bomb it with N2 mines," Misato said firmly, "The Magi compute it's the best chance to deal with this." She gentled her tone a bit, "I'm sorry..."

"Energy spike!" Maya yelped as alarms suddenly screamed.

"Look!" Rei called, moving Unit-00 into position as the shadow bulged strangely.

The pilots watched as the substance of the angel bulged and shifted, then it tore gruesomely as a metallic arm ripped through. A silvery figure emerged from the rent hauling Jet Alone behind it, staggering away as the angel shrunk away, blood pouring out of it.

"Mana!" Asuka yelled as she established a communications link.

"I'm here," Mana smiled back tiredly, "What a ride..."

Misato took in the silvery Evangelion in shock. "That's Unit-04!" she yelped, "But it's supposed to be in the United States! How did it...?"

"We got a report it disappeared in a S2 engine test," Ritsuko mused, "Could it be that...?"

The rear armor of the Evangelion shifted aside, and the entry plug partially unscrewed from the back of Unit-04. As the hatch opened a familiar figure in glasses stood up, his student uniform wet with LCL. After coughing and hacking up LCL Kensuke Aida smiled weakly, "Hey, what'd I miss?"

To be continued...


	25. Launch TwentyThree

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twenty Three

Gendo Ikari faced the monoliths of SEELE, his expression calm as he clasped his hands behind his back. The latest reports had been filed and the group had reviewed it, but there were still a great deal of questions to be answered.

"Have you confirmed that it indeed is the boy Kensuke Aida?" SEELE 01 asked, his voice distorted by electronics.

"We don't have the same hard medical data on him as we do on the Evangelion pilots," Gendo answered, "but everything checks out with his records,. Dr. Akagi also preformed blood tests and skin scrapings, according to our tests he's fully human."

"How did he get Unit-04?" SEELE 07 asked.

"As I understand it, Unit 04 disappeared from Nevada when they attempted a S2 engine test," Gendo noted thoughtfully.

"Yes," SEELE 07 confirmed, but didn't go into detail either.

Gendo nodded slightly, "Dr. Akagi has a theory on the matter. She believes that the failure of the S2 engine may have actually torn a hole in space, dropping the Evangelion into the Dirac Sea." Pointedly he added, "If we had more data on the event, we could likely make a better determination."

Very reluctantly SEELE 07 said, "We'll send a fuller briefing to your technical staff."

'Probably still not a complete record, but better,' Gendo mused while still maintaining his usual poker face. "Is there anything else?" he asked politely, "We still have much work to do..."

Each SEELE monolith faded out, only 01 lingering a moment. "Concentrate on the Human Instrumentally Project," he reminded Gendo, "that is what is important. The Angel war is ultimately a side show compared to that."

As the holographic environment faded away Gendo took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "A side show that can kill us all if we mishandle it," he murmured. Putting his glasses back on Gendo straightened out his clothes and left the dark office, heading down to the labs.

Mana Kirishima and Kensuke Aida were being interviewed by NERV staff for the third time, making them repeat their stories while looking for any flaws. So far both their stories were surprisingly consistent, taking into account their different points of view,

Gendo took up a spot beside Ritsuko, both of them observing the interviews through one-way glass. "Do they check out?" he asked quietly.

"As far as we can determine, yes," Ritsuko answered as the dyed blonde studied the two being interviewed, "I'm running genetic tests, too, just to be sure."

"Hmm," Gendo nodded. Frankly he would have quite willingly allowed her to take both kids apart, if that was necessary.

"Their stories are rather fascinating," Ritsuko noted thoughtfully. She looked at Gendo, "Either they both had startlingly similar hallucinations, or being within the Dirac lead then to experience alternate realities."

Gendo raised his eyebrows, "Alternate realities?"

"Aida says he met divergent versions of himself, one a crazed survivalist, the other a qualified Evangelion pilot," Ritsuko told him, "and Mana is giving a similar statement."

Inside the interview room Mana met the eyes of Maya Ibuki, her expression somewhat bewildered. "It was... pretty strange," she admitted quietly. "When I first fell through the hole I was surrounded by blackness, then I found myself on a old train."

"Train?" Maya asked.

"An antique railcar type," Mana remembered, "with the old style fabric covered seats. I saw the darkness outside the windows, then other mes began showing up. They each talked to me a few minutes, then they disappeared."

"Did this happen with Kensuke?" Gendo murmured to Ritsuko.

"He met the various other selves while hiking through the hills around Tokyo-3," Ritsuko answered him softly.

"What were the alternate versions of you like?" Maya asked.

"Pretty similar," Mana frowned in memory, "mostly in different jobs and lifestyles. One was a Evangelion pilot, another piloted a version of Jet Alone. At least one was a cyborg..."

"Interesting," Gendo mused, but moved away from the glass, gesturing for Ritsuko to follow. "About Aida... can he function as a pilot?"

"Yes and no," Ritsuko answered frankly, "he's... attuned to Unit-04, and it accepts him, so physically he can pilot."

"But?" Gendo prompted.

"He has no training and his synchronization score is still fairly low," Ritsuko told him, "he's going to have to be trained before we can effectively use him." She smiled slightly, "On the plus side he's very interested in piloting, unlike Shinji."

Gendo looked back at Mana being interviewed, then at the other room where Kensuke was sitting. "Begin processing for him to join NERV," he said briskly, "but limit his exposure to confidential information, for now."

"You think he might be a plant, somehow?" Ritsuko asked curiously.

"I don't know," Gendo admitted, "but there is no reason to take chances."

As the interview ended Asuka Soryu Langley waited outside with a scowl, the redhead pacing back and forth impatiently. Shinji Ikari reached out to put a hand on her arm, "Take it easy, I'm sure they'll be done soon."

"That's what you said half a hour ago," Asuka grumbled resentfully, her skirt swirling around her long legs. She, like Shinji, had changed back to street clothes once they returned to NERV, then hurried down here to see Mana and Kensuke.

Just then the door to the connected interview rooms opened, and Maya gave the two younger woman a smile. "You can go in now," she told them, "but go easy on them. They're tired and emotionally stressed right now."

"Right," Shinji nodded gratefully as they both headed in.

Mana smiled warmly as they entered, the brown haired girl looking tired but happy as she sat by a plain table. Recording gear and microphones were set up there, presumably to take her statement. "Hey, you two," she said.

"You idiot," Asuka growled, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her roughly, "what were you THINKING?"

"Asuka," Shinji moved to try to stop her, then Mana got up, enfolding the other girl in her arms.

"Eeep!" Asuka stiffened.

"I'm sorry," Mana said, squeezing once then letting go. She smiled slightly, "I'm sorry for scaring you like that."

"I wasn't worried about you," Asuka flushed, looking away.

Shinji hid a smile as she moved past them and opened the door to the connected interview room. Surprisingly Kensuke was leaning back in the chair up against the wall, the young man seemingly dozing. Dressed in a borrowed NERV uniform he looked tired even while sleeping, his glasses left sitting on the table.

Shinji reached out and shook him gently as she said, "Ken, wake up."

Kensuke stirred then his eyes opened, blinking owlishly until he grabbed his glasses and up them on. "Hey," he smiled.

"You okay?" Shinji asked softly. She smiled, "We were worried about you, once the staff grabbed you."

Ken chuckled as he got up and stretched, "Well, I've been poked, prodded and examined way too damn close, but otherwise I'm fine." He looked at Shinji curiously, "Am I going to be allowed to keep piloting that Evangelion?"

"I don't know," Shinji answered honestly, "they don't tell me these things." She thought about it, "Probably, I'd think. There's no way NERV would not want to use you."

"You don't sound too thrilled?" Ken noted.

Shinji shrugged, "I don't entirely trust my dad's motives, honestly."

Ken thought of his conversation with the other version of himself who was a pilot, and the things Gendo Ikari had done. "No reason you should," he muttered softly.

"Huh?" Shinji looked at him curiously, but when Ken didn't add anything she smiled slightly. "Thanks for rescuing Mana, by the way."

"We sort of rescued each other," Ken admitted as they walked towards the room next door.

"Oh?" Shinji asked.

"She talked me through piloting the Evangelion," Ken explained, "I probably wouldn't have managed it otherwise."

In the other room Asuka seemed to have gotten over her blushing fit as she gently punched Mana on the shoulder. "I suppose we're all lucky that piece of junk of yours could even get out of the Dirac Sea," she joked.

"Jet Alone isn't that bad," Mana shot back with a smile.

"Wanna contest?" Asuka challenged, "I bet my Evangelion could kick your ass."

"You and what army?" Mana shot back, grinning.

"Any chance we could just have you two fight it out in a bowl of jello?" Ken leered jokingly. "Or pudding! Pudding is always good."

Both women gave him a flat glare. "Don't kill him," Shinji smiled, "remember, you still owe him your life, Mana."

"If I don't kill him that puts us even," Mana said flatly. She rolled her eyes, "Why did I follow you into that thing again?"

Ken smiled sheepishly. "Uhm, I haven't really thank you yet, have I?" He bowed slightly, "Thank you very much."

Mana waved that off, blushing faintly, "You saved me too. I figure we're even."

"Does that mean I can hurt him?" Asuka asked, cracking her knuckles,

"No," Shinji, Mana and Ken said at around the same time.

Asuka muttered something uncomplimentary in German. "You two ready to get out of here?" she asked them, putting her hands on her hips.

"More than ready," Mana nodded.

Shinji checked her watch then asked, "Wanna crash dinner at our place? You can watch Ritsuko and Misato being romantic over dinner."

"Sounds fun," Ken chuckled.

"They're that bad?" Asuka asked as they walked out of the interview rooms together and out into the hallway.

"Not bad," Shinji chuckled, "I actually think it's kind of cute."

To be continued...


	26. Launch TwentyFour

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twenty Four

Ritsuko perceived that within NERV there was a constant game of move and counter move between 'her' faction of herself and Misato and their opponent, Gendo Ikari. It wasn't obvious, in fact Ritsuko was doing everything she could to keep it covert, but it was gradually effecting the organization's various operations.

Ritsuko's objectives were fairly simple. She wanted to know what Gendo was really planning for the Evangelions and their pilots, especially after the Angel's were defeated. She knew that there was money pouring into NERV that wasn't crossing her desk, and project tags in computer files she was unaware of. Working with Misato she was gradually assembling the data, but so far they only had pieces of a larger puzzle.

Gendo, on the other hand, was trying to contain and limit Ritsuko's access, while still using her abilities for the Evangelions. He had already promoted Maya Ibuki put to a 'equal' status to Ritsuko, and she was being given several jobs that would have previously been given to Ritsuko. Also Maya and Kozo were beefing up internal security, which left Ritsuko having to be more cautious than ever.

On a purely personal level Ritsuko felt betrayed that Maya would go to work directly for Gendo. She had trained Maya personally, the younger woman was practically her protege, but she seemed willing to cast aside personal loyalty for advancement. Worse, Maya was nearly as good as Ritsuko in computer technology, which meant she had to be even more careful to cover her tracks.

Ritsuko sat in her office, studying files she had extracted from her mother's personal logs. The information had originally been on old yellow post-it notes, plastered all over the inside of the Magi, and Ritsuko had spent a long day copying and sorting the information.

As Ritsuko read, she had to acknowledge her mother had a unhealthy obsession with Gendo Ikari and a deep hatred for Yui. In fact on most of the notes Yui was not referred to by name, instead simply as 'that bitch.' They had worked together for years, yet she had hidden a hatred that was almost unholy in it's intensity.

'Mother, you were very messed up,' Ritsuko mused as she read a rambling journal about a drunken night the three had spent together.

A familiar phrase, 'human instrumentality' caught Ritsuko's eye, and she leaned forward to read more. Apparently while drunk Yui had mentioned the concept of human beings successfully evolving into a higher state, what she called 'instrumentality.' Sadly there wasn't much else there.

Cross referencing files showed Ritsuko that there was a 'Human Instrumentality Project' mentioned in a budget report from NERV, but it was a mention buried in the back pages under several flow charts and other filler. Clearly, someone had been trying to keep anyone from noticing it...

Part of Ritsuko wanted to use a custom search engine and dig through the Magi files, but common sense stopped her. There was no reason Gendo couldn't have monitors in place to spot such a search, and she didn't want to reveal what she now knew. Instead she made herself plow through her mother's files, no matter how distasteful it was.

Meanwhile, in another part of NERV Misato looked on with obvious amusement as Kensuke Aida got killed. Again.

"This is so unfair," the young man complained as Shinji, Rei and Asuka killed him again in another simulation run. The three were under Misato's orders to go after the boy, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"Life isn't fair," Misato smirked as she sat back, her purple-black hair shimmering. "Besides, we need to get your synchronization scores up, and the best way to do that is through this sort of test," she told him smugly.

'Not to mention it's fun,' Asuka admitted as she hunted the young man, her orange hair flowing around her in the LCL filled entry plug. She leaped out from behind a building just as Unit-04 was passing, then calmly riddled the silver Evangelion with her rifle.

"Shit!" Ken yelped, staggering as he tried to put a building between him and Asuka, scrambling to avoid being shot again. Thankfully the more he used the Evangelion the easier it became, and he was getting very motivated to survive

As Ken moved Rei deployed her progressive knife, holding it tightly. Once he was near enough she truck, driving the blade into the virtual Evangelion and putting the already weakened foe down.

"Congratulations," Misato smirked, "you lasted a good minute longer this time."

"Oh yay," Ken said dryly.

"Rebooting simulation," Misato told the pilots, "Ken, you get a head start."

The kids waited as Ken tried to slink through Tokyo-3, then after thirty seconds the other three moved out. This time Rei accessed the long range rifle simulation, basing herself on a rise above the city as the other two equipped themselves with the pistols Ritsuko was developing.

Misato noted with approval that the kids were thinking tactically as well as developing more team moves. A long distance attack coupled with their pistols would be better than rifles, especially in the confines of a city.

'And this is good practice if someone ever launches the Mass Production model Evangelions after us,' Misato noted.

This time Ken was smart, jumping Shinji when the girl was concentrating climbing over a tram line. The lack of serious martial arts training both had showed as they flailed around, but Ken managed to grab hold of the pistol. He swiftly fired into the Evangelion's face, the feedback putting Shinji out for awhile.

"Not bad, Ken," Misato noted even as she decided to give Shinji some unarmed combat training.

Sadly, Rei was also well away from the fight, and saw everything. She sighted through the rifle's scope and flatly murmured, "You will not hurt my Shinji."

Ken didn't even see the rifle shot that took him through the chest, and he never had a chance to fire his stolen pistol. "Crap!" he cursed as his Evangelion shut down.

"Damn it, Rei, do you have to take all the kills?" Asuka complained.

"Sorry," Rei answered mildly, "I'll try to let you kill him next time."

"Let?" Asuka answered dangerously.

Mana Kirishima watched with amusement, the dark brown haired girl munching on a snack she had gotten from the vending machines on that level. "Thank you for letting me watch," she told Misato cheerfully.

"You're welcome," Misato answered, smiling. She added cheerfully, "I'd even have you participating, but Jet Alone doesn't interface with our simulation system."

"I'd like to join in on the fun," Mana admitted, nodding to the screen where, after yet another reboot, Asuka was wailing on Ken with her bare hands.

"Damn it Asuka, put him out of his misery!" Misato ordered.

"Spoil sport," Asuka sighed.

"Anyway," Misato looked at the grinning Mana, "Ritsuko's working on a software patch that should let us tie in Jet Alone too. Should make these fights even more interesting."

"I guess so," Mana said as the system rebooted again.

"Let's make things a little more interesting," Misato said as she manipulated controls then addressed the pilots, "Everyone, I'm changing the environment."

"How so?" Rei asked politely, her voice as calm as normal.

"Retracting buildings," Misato smirked, "you're fighting on a open field now."

"Oh hell no," Ken whimpered as the various buildings he'd been using as cover retracted into the ground, leaving them on a mostly flat, empty grid.

"Oh yes," Asuka grinned evilly.

And the killing continued...

Meanwhile, Toji Suzuhara was feeling rather left out of the plot as he went home from school without his best friend. On the other hand he was walking home with his girlfriend Hikari Horaki, whom he had gotten a lot closer to lately, so it kind of balanced out.

"Do you think we should visit NERV?" Hikari asked thoughtfully, her pigtails swinging as she walked. "I'm worried about Kensuke."

"I think he's fine," Toji shrugged as he thought about the excited phone call he had gotten from his buddy. "I bet he's loving being a pilot."

Somewhere deep in NERV in between running for his life Kensuke sneezed. Then died, again.

"I guess so," Hikari conceded, the two walking along together.

There were more UN forces out in the city lately, probably due to the rumored hacking attempt at NERV. Not that anyone said there was a hack or anything, but in a company town like Tokyo-3 word got out eventually. The two teens nodded pleasantly to a busty officer observing the unloading of a tank-like sentry, then moved on.

"We should have got a photo," Toji noted wryly, "Aida'd be having a fit over that mecha."

Hikari shook her head, "I'm pretty sure they're classified."

Hikari's big sister was a employee at NERV, though admittedly only in the secretarial pool. Still, Kodama Horaki heard a lot of rumors and information, at least some of which she passed on to her little sister. She also helped support the family, along with Dad's income...

They reached Hikari's home, where the smaller girl smiled up at Toji. "I'd invite you in but I think Kodama's going to be home," she admitted.

"Yeah, I think I'll skip it," Toji winced. Kodama was a very nice lady, he thought, as well as a preview of how hot Hikari was going to look in a few years, but she was also a very protective big sister. She seemed to assume he just had one thing in mind, and it wasn't just friendship.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Hikari went on tip-toes to kiss his cheek, "and I'll bring you something nice for lunch."

"Thanks," Toji blushed furiously as he hurried away.

'Boys,' Hikari thought fondly, then went inside. As she went in she called out, "I'm home!"

"Welcome back," a familiar voice called from the kitchen. Hikari followed the voice to see her big sister sitting at the kitchen table, a laptop sitting there as she typed away.

"Hello, big sis," Hikari smiled at her warmly.

"Hey," Kodama nodded, her shorter brown hair cut close to her head. "I made dinner already," she nodded towards the pots, "help yourself, just leave enough for everybody else."

"Right," Hikari nodded cheerfully as she uncovered various pots to see what had been made. "How was work?" she asked as she sniffed the savory foods.

"Oh, not bad," Kodama noted thoughtfully, "I think my two immediate superiors are plotting against each other, Major Katsuragi is nuts, Doctor Akagi is hiding in her lab and Commander Ikari gives me the willies."

"So same as usual?" Hikari asked as she dished up food.

"Same as usual," Kodama agreed.

Notes: Didn't want to jump into the next Angel yet, so I thought I'd dip into the back story a bit. Ritsuko and Misato are still trying to figure out what Gendo is up to, Gendo and Kozo are trying to keep everyone in the dark, and Maya is playing her own game.

To avoid Aida becoming a Mary Sue (Or Gary Stu) I decided to show him being trained, AND getting his ass kicked. Don't worry, he'll survive.


	27. Launch Twenty Five

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies  
Launch Twenty-Five

The information was on a zip-drive someone dropped into Ritsuko Akagi's coat pocket before she went home, though there was no name or other information attached. The file was in the most common notepad format, presumably so that it could be read on any computer the user needed. Ritsuko herself didn't access it until she virus scanned the whole drive, then warily opened it.

'Is this a glossary?' Ritsuko wondered as she sat at their home computer in their bedroom, skimming through entries. It was written in badly translated English, making things even more hard to understand, but as she read certain things leaped out at her.

**[Human Complementation Plan] (JINRUI HOKAN KEIKAKU)**

_A plan to induce artificial evolution for human, who had reached an impasse in becoming a colony of worthless, to become a total single-form organism. It was under the direction of SEELE, and the secret agency NERV was the implementation organization. However, the expectations of SEELE seems to be different from the objective of NERV (which means the objective of Gendou and Fuyutsuki)._

_EVA was in fact not planned as a weapon. It was built with the aim to realize this plan. More specifically, it seems that the plan is to artificially start the Third Impact, thus erasing all human, and after human shed their physical form, they will then evolute into a new stage. _

"This sounds like what Yui was planning," Ritsuko murmured as she tapped away at the keyboard, looking at more entries.

**[Tree of Life] (SEIMEI no KI)**

_When the Human Complementation Plan starts, EVA-01 will grow into something like a tree, with its roots spread towards the sky and its branches extended to the ground. A Tree of Life that has its roots and branches inverted appears on both Hindu scriptures and the Kabbalah. This was called "the Inverted Tree" _

Ritsuko blinked, "Unit-01? IS this even possible?"

**[SEELE]**

_A secret organisation that existed even before the Second Impact. It hid the truth about the Second Impact and the existence of Angels and uses its power to abuse UN and other countries. After the Second Impact, it used UN as a cover, established the Committee of Human Complementation and the secret agency NERV, and built the EVA series._

_SEELE's Human Complementation Plan is mapped out according to what was recorded on the "Secret Dead Sea Scrolls". The objective of the plan is to move human up to another stage of evolution. However, with the loss of the Spear of Longinus, and then the rebellion of Ikari Gendou, the commander of the secret agency NERV, it became inevitable that the plan has to be changed at the last stage. _

"SEELE," Ritsuko muttered, blinking. The name came up in murmurs and rumors, like some kind of modern Illuminati, a cabal who secretly ran the world. No one really believed they were real, though. Or at least no one who wasn't considered a total crackpot. 'Is this data real?' she wondered, 'Or an elaborate fake?'

**[Single-Form] (Tantai)**

_The objective of the Human Complementation Plan is the induced artificial evolution of human into "an organism which lives as a total single-form". This "single-form" means a life form which ends as a single individual. And this term is used to distinguish with "community form", which is life form formed by a multiple of individuals. _

"God, is this what Yui meant by Instrumentality?" Ritsuko muttered, shaking her head. As a scientist she found some of the ideas here fascinating, but as a human being it seemed horrible.

**[Lilith]**

_A giant crucified on a red cross at the extreme depth under NERV HQ. Its face is covered with a mask which has the Arm of SEELE drawn on it. Its hands are penetrated by nails that are stuck on the cross. Although it does not have the lower body when it was pierced by the Spear of Longinus, it grows its lower body after the Spear was pulled out. Originally the Human Complementation Plan planned to use this Lilith. However SEELE changed the plan after the Spear was lost, and they attempted to use EVA01 for Complementation purpose. At that moment, Keel Lorentz says this is "the copy of Lilith". By this it seems that EVA01 was actually made by copying Lilith. _

Ritsuko sat back, shaking her head. 'Whoever put this file together even knows about Lilith?' she thought, stunned. Only the highest levels of clearance at NERV were even aware of Lilith's existance, hell, even Misato hadn't known until Ritsuko had told her! Who put together this file?

**[Dummy Plug]**

_A virtual Entry Plug which was developed for starting and using EVA without the pilot. Even though it has a copy of the personal pattern of the Children, the digitization of the soul is impossible. Thus the Dummy Plug can only serve to simulate the thought pattern. The Dummy Plug prepared by NERV had the copy of the personal pattern of First Children (Ayanami Rei). On the other hand, the Dummy Plug prepared by SEELE used the personal pattern of the Fifth Children (Nagisa Kaworu). _

"Kaworu Nagisa?" Ritsuko blinked, "Who the hell is Kaworu Nagisa?"

Ritsuko heard the sound of people coming in, and quickly closed the file before unplugging the drive and putting it in her pocket. She didn't want to risk anyone else opening it, or finding out she had something like this in her home.

Misato was just leading Rei and Shinji in, both girls talking quietly. Rei stopped in fairly often, even though she lived in official NERV housing, and often shared meals with them. It helped that Shinji was a pretty damn good cook, on the nights they didn't order take-out.

"Wark," Pen Pen noted as the penguin waddled by, heading for the sardines that had just been dished up for him.

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to that," Shinji noted mildly, her hair loose today instead of the usual ponytail.

"I think he's cute," Misato defended her pet even as she got a beer.

"Evening all," Ritsuko called as she left the bedroom, smiling at them warmly.

"Hey love," Misato pulled her down into a gentle kiss as Ritsuko was passing her.

"Eww, mushy stuff," Shinji joked as she and Rei walked to the kitchen, the albino girl watching attentively as Shinji began to make dinner.

"Is it hard to learn this?" Rei asked her curiously as Misato and Ritsuko talked softly behind them.

"Not really," Shinji admitted as she opened up the fridge and peered inside. "There are a lot of books you can study, then you start making up your own recipies."

"I don't know if I could manage that," Rei admitted mildly as Shinji began to reheat some items while cooking up new stuff.

As the food cooked there was enough noise cover for Ritsuko to quietly tell Misato, "Someone passed me a zip drive, today. It's got some remarkable data on it."

"How?" Misato murmured, worried that Gendo might know about them.

"Slipped into my labcoat. No idea who or how," Ritsuko admitted softly.

"And the data?" Misato asked.

"Looks valid, thought I'm going to cross check it against files we're recovered from Gendo, Yui and my mother," Ritsuko said softly. She stole a sip from Misato's beer and winced as she loudly said, "How do you stand this stuff?"

Misato took her beer back, "Acquired taste?"

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Maya Ibuki frowned as the slim young woman monitored survielance data on Kensuke Aida, Asuka Soryu Langley and Mana Kirishima, watching the three on split screens. Section 2 agents tailed the kids wherever they went, sending back streaming data, and NERV could tap into street cameras and other sources of data.

'A bit excessive, but who knows?' Maya admitted as she drank from a cup of now cool coffee in the recently redesigned security office.

Ken was back hanging with his friends, though he showed a marked increase in popularity. Teachers at the school were reporting that rumors had already begun to circulate that he was a Evangelion pilot. Thankfully it didn't look like the rumors were coming from Ken himself, in fact it seemed he was downplaying the rumors.

'Did he tell us everything that happened in the Dirac Sea?' Maya mused as she zoomed in on a image, 'Whatever happened, he seems more mature.'

Maya switched to watching Asuka and Mana leaving school, the two women walking together. They were visually very different, with the fiery looking Asuka and her long red hair beside the more boyish looking Mana with short, dark hair. Despite being nearly the same height one got the sense that Mana was being protected by Asuka, somehow.

'Which is funny, considering Mana has more military training than Asuka,' Maya noted thoughtfully. Her recent promotion gave Maya more access to confidential files, and she had been surprised at what she had read.

Mana Kirishima, for example, was a orphan and a military brat, raised on army bases. She was rifle and side arm certified, had two black belts, and could probably fold your average person in half. Reading between the lines she had no close friendships or relationships, which made her interactions with Asuka so interesting.

'They're bonding,' Maya smirked, wondering how something so unlikely could have happened. 'Then again, I never expected Shinji and Rei to click so well too,' she admitted.

Yawning tiredly Maya got up, saving the files to the new secure archive she had created. She headed up to the door, looking over at the other desk where her new minion was also working. "Satsuki?" she called, "I'm going now. Once you finish checking the security logs, you can go too."

Satsuki Ooi looked up, her long brown hair flowing around her face. "Yes ma'm," she smiled warmly, "it should be done in half a hour."

"Would it help if I stayed?" Maya offered, just like she knew Ritsuko would have.

"It's easier if one person cross checks files," Satsuki smiled as she answered, "it's fine. Have a good night, ma'am."

"Thank you," Maya smiled, leaving the offices and heading upstairs to change.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Kensuke Aida excused himself, ducking into the bathroom of the snack shop he, Touji and the others had stopped in for a snack. He ducked into a stall then locked the door before pulling out her small, portable computer. He opened up the file he created earlier that week, filled with information the alternate Ken had told him. All the details on NERV, on what Gendo did on his world, and how it all went horribly bad.

'I hope passing this to Ritsuko was a good idea,' Ken thought, downloading the file onto a newly bought zip disk then erasing the file. 'Better safe then sorry,' he decided, hiding the drive and putting the computer away, 'I'd better not be caught with this on my computer.'

"Are you gonna be in there forever!" one guy shouted from outside.

"Just a minute," Ken yelled, flushing the toilet for effect then going out to wash his hands. 'My life was a lot easier before I became a pilot,' he sighed, then went out to be with his friends once more.

To be continued...

Notes: The zip drive Ritsuko gets is based off the Red Cross Book that was released when End of Evangelion first came to theaters, with some edits from me.


	28. Launch Twenty Six

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twenty-Six

Ritsuko Akagi smiled slightly as she studied the information from the supposed destruction of Evangelion Unit-4. The data was still incomplete, the United States appeared to want to keep all the data that they could, but it did seem to indicate that the spoiled S2 engine test had ripped a hole right into the other-dimensional Dirac Sea.

The phone on her desk ran, and the blond haired scientist picked it up with a annoyed sigh. IT was already near midnight, thought you couldn't tell that in the offices inside the NERV pyramid, and in her opinion it was too late in the day for this shit. "Yes?" Ritsuko asked flatly.

"Have you received the information we requested from the United States branches yet?" Gendo Ikari asked her bluntly, not even saying a polite hello.

"The files with 'redacted' written all over them?" Ritsuko replied dryly. "Yes, I'm sure they're going to be a great help."

Gendo paused a moment to get his own irritation under control then asked, "Was there any useful data there?"

"There were some intact tables and the electromagnetic and other data is all here, just with no references attached," Ritsuko conceded. She sighed as she asked him, "What the hell is going on with the US branches?"

"I don't know for certain," Gendo said reluctantly. "I can tell you that they have asked for a delay in shipping over the other Evangelion they completed."

Ritsuko frowned, then her eyes widened as something occurred to her. "They know the S2 engine test cracked the barrier into the Dirac Sea," she murmured before yelping, "are they trying it over again?"

"I don't know," Gendo sounded tired and, surprisingly, worried, "but I have tasked satellites to keep an eye on things. Hopefully, we won't have to act."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"They're trying to do WHAT?" Misato yelped a short time later even as Maya looked on, visibly pale. Ritsuko had called them both to her office, Misato because she trusted her, and Maya because Ritsuko had a responsibility to keep her supposed equal in the loop.

"The United States branches of NERV sent us only a heavily edited report on the S2 engine accident that took out Area 51," Ritsuko said with a unnatural calm, "but it appears they now know they cracked the dimensional barrier." Bitterly she added, "Mostly thanks to our reports on what happened here."

"So...," Maya hesitated, "the US branches are keeping the other Evangelion and intend to try it again?" She frowned, "What's the worst case scenario?"

"Worst case?" Ritsuko shrugged as they looked at her, "They generate a burst of energy sufficient to break the dimensional barrier and collapse the two universes together."

"That's bad, right?" Misato asked.

"Extremely bad," Ritsuko said dryly.

Maya looked between the two of them, sensing a joke she was missing. Deciding it didn't matter she asked, "Is there anything we can do about it?"

"Not from that far away," Ritsuko sighed, though Misato looked thoughtful. "What?" she asked her lover quietly.

"If we know something goes bad early enough, could we get the Evangelions there?" Misato asked, looking at Maya and Ritsuko thoughtfully.

Both Ritsuko and Maya looked at her like she was insane. "Are you nuts?" Maya asked after a moment, "We don't have anything with the range to..."

"We could modify a transport," Ritsuko said reluctantly, "but there's no way we could get something out there in time. It's just not possible."

Misato sighed, "Then I guess we just have to hope the US doesn't fuck up too badly."

Maya ran a hand through her hair tiredly. "Well, with the Evangelion staying in the States, we don't need to recruit a new pilot. Less work for me," she smiled.

'That's one good thing,' Misato admitted to herself as she went up to the bridge. They were already considering pilot candidates, probably taken from Shinji's classroom. Honestly she wasn't sure she could bring herself to pull another innocent kid into this situation.

Satsuki Ooi was managing the 'midnight shift' on the bridge, the attractive brown haired woman standing by where Maya used to sit. Aoi Mogami was handling data management, working her terminal to organize data coming in via the Magi and outside sensors. The final watch officer was Kaede Agano, a short, lighter brown haired girl who was bringing in coffee for everyone.

"How are things tonight, Satsuki?" Misato asked her briskly.

"No alerts, no JSSDF warnings and no activity on satellite feeds," Satsuki said. "As per Gendo's instructions, we've tasked one of the US satellites to maintain watch over Area 51 and the Nevada testing grounds."

"Good work," Misato nodded, then bit back a yawn.

"Do you want a coffee, ma'am?" Kaede asked brightly.

"Nah, I think I'll head home to crash," Misato admitted, yawning again. "There's nothing urgent enough requiring me to be here. Are Aoba and Makoto coming in as scheduled?"

"Yes they are." Aoi nodded warmly. "See you later ma'am!"

As Misato left the three women looked entirely business like, but once she was gone both Aoi and Kaede relaxed in their seats and Satsuki casually leaned against a terminal. "It's too bad she doesn't do night shifts more often," Satsuki noted.

"Too bad she's taken, Satsuki," Aoi teased.

"Hell, just having her around to look at would be nice," Kaede offered, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah," Satsuki laughed, "get to work, you two."

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Shinji Ikari got up as usual, changed from her night clothes to school uniform then the young woman peeked in on Misato and Ritsuko's room to see them collapsed on the bed. Sadly, they were still dressed, making her wonder when they actually got home last night.

'Poor things,' Shinji thought as she quietly got breakfast ready, and made up something for the two of them when they woke up.

Right on cue Rei showed up, the blue haired girl bowing slightly. "Good morning, Shinji," she said politely.

"Morning," Shinji smiled, "you want some breakfast?"

"If I could," Rei smiled, taking off her shoes at the door and slipping on her slippers. She followed Shinji in as she noted, "I don't see Mana and Asuka here yet."

Shinji snickered softly. "They still have leftovers from the last take-out binge they went on," she pointed out as she dished up fried tofu for Rei, "but they'll probably be here tomorrow."

Rei chuckled as she said, "You keep track of the people around you closely."

"Wark!" PenPen loudly complained that HE had not been kept track of and that the penguin wanted to be fed. Now.

Shinji hurriedly got up and opened a can of sardines, putting them in the cross penguin's bowl. "Sorry PenPen," she told him, even though he was too busy scarfing fish to notice.

The two women finished up their food, then Shinji detoured to get her bag and they set out to school. It took only a few minutes for Asuka and Mana to join them, the two girls living nearby in a suite rented in the same building as Misato and Ritsuko.

"Hey, did you hear about Unit-03?" Asuka asked eagerly as they walked together.

"Uhm, I'm not sure if I'm cleared to hear this...," Mana noted, her short brown hair falling into her eyes.

"Oh come on," Asuka waved that protest off casually, "we all know it'll end up on the gossip tree soon enough."

"Grape vine," Rei corrected her mildly.

"Either way," Asuka shrugged, "I heard the US branches are refusing to send it here! Why would they do something like that?"

Shinji frowned slightly, "It's a good question. So far only Tokyo-3 has come under Angel attack, and why would you need a Evangelion for anything else?"

Mana gave him a look, "You're usually not that innocent, Shinji. Unit-3 represents a immense military power too."

"True," Shinji conceded, "but it's not exactly mobile. Who are they gonna use it against? Canada?"

"Use what against?" Kensuke Aida asked as the young man joined their walk.

After the recent intense training (in fact his Evangelion getting killed mercilessly by the others) the group had gained a degree of respect towards him. He had just... taken being killed over and over, no bitching whining or complaining. (Or at least, not much.) As a side effect he was accepted a bit more by the group of pilots, having shown he had enough guts to keep going as a pilot.

"The US isn't sending us the Unit-3 Evangelion," Mana noted. She grinned, "But don't worry, we'll just use you as a meatshield instead."

"Gee, thanks," Ken sighed, even as his thoughts raced.

In a conversation with a alternate version of himself within the Dirac sea, Ken had learned about the crap Gendo Ikari had gotten up to as head of NERV, as well as some of the things he planned.

The 'alter-Ken' had seen his best friend tricked into piloting Unit-3, and when a Angel took it over Shinji had been forced by Gendo to fight and kill it. With Unit-3 staying in the States that future seemed unlikely, but it made the other information he had less reliable.

"Hey, I'm better armored that any of you in Jet Alone," Mana protested, "if anyone gets to be a shield, it's me."

"Don't volunteer to be a hero," Shinji noted, "we already know you're brave and crazy." Mana stuck her tongue out at Shinji as the girl carried on, "So, do you think the US will use Unit-3 to take over Canada? Or Mexico?"

"I could do with Mexican," Asuka grinned.

"Yes, we'll get Mexican for dinner," Mana surrendered, smiling slightly.

"You two remind me of a husband and wife," Shinji grinned, mentally adding, 'Mana's the henpecked husband.'

"WE ARE NOT!" both Asuka and Mana growled at her at nearly the same time.

To be continued!

OMAKE

"Or retake Alaska. Didn't they lose it to the Russians?" Ken noted, his military otaku side emerging once more.

Everyone looked at him, then Shinji shook her head. "Well, yeah, I suppose," she conceded, "but would they WANT Alaska back? Didn't that wack job Palin come from there?"

"Yeah, she's the one who tried to succeed from the US," Asuka remembered from her history classes. "Declared herself Empress of the north, right until Russia took over."

"I can see Russia from my house... boom!" Mana cackled.

"Okay, we're just getting too silly," Shinji decided.

End!

Notes: Dunno if Sarah Palin would be known in Evangelion's time line, so I made that bit into a omake. If any Tea Party members are reading this, I take mine with cream and sugar. Thanks!


	29. Launch Twenty Seven

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twenty Seven

It came on the wind, a strange, formless cloud of semi-organic material. It moved through the upper atmosphere, crossing the world on the jet-stream, almost as if it was searching for something. Finally it abandoned it's search and let the wind carry it onward, eventually arriving in the fortress city of Tokyo-3.

It didn't show up on the many sensors in NERV. Why would it? It was a dispersed mist, not the solid form of a invading Angel. No alerts wailed, no sirens went off, in fact everyone in the city carried on as if there was nothing wrong. And to most of them nothing was wrong, until the first attack happened the day after the mist arrived.

Yoko Shinden was having problems with her car this morning. The old beetle was a bit run down looking, but it had served her well over the years. But this morning it wouldn't start up, instead just making a anguished grinding noise. With a groan of disgust she got out of her car, glaring down at it in pure exasperation.

"Why won't you start?" Yoko demanded, the redhead kicking at the car's nearest fender.

The volkswagon bug lurched suddenly, then... it began to move. Yoko jerked back in shock as it rattled and shook, then what almost looked like a arm burst out from the rusty metal! The bug reached for her even as Yoko screamed and backed away, watching in disbelief.

Yoko was bone pale as she stammered, "It's not possible."

The car almost seemed to be trying to transform, but whatever was inhabiting it was clearly not human. Soon insect like legs were shaped from metal and rubber, a great staring eye forming out of a headlight. It lurched awkwardly, clearly not having any idea how to walk, and collapsed to the side with a groan.

Yoko's disbelieving screams caught the attention of a police officer, who arrived only to freeze in shock, looking at the thing disbelievingly. With more courage than sense he pushed Yoko back, then advanced on the thing as he asked, "Okay, what's going on? This better not be another stunt by the engineering club..."

The inhuman thing cocked it's misshapen head, studying the cop for a moment. It didn't understand the language, but it clearly didn't like the tone. With a casual gesture one of the insect like legs reared up, then struck downward with incredible force and impaled the man!

"Aiee!" Yoko screamed in horror as blood splattered her, the man's head and upper body disintegrating under the blow. Without thinking she turned and ran, even as the thing watched her curiously as she fled.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"What the hell is going on?" Shinji Ikari asked as she was hustled down to the Evangelion bays, the young woman swiftly pulling on the plugsuit top as she ran.

The radio in her ear chirped as Misato said, "We think it's a Angel attack, but what the Angel is exactly we don't know. Something is taking over machines and technology in and around Tokyo-3, mutating it somehow."

"Are the Evangelions vulnerable to it?" Asuka demanded, already sitting in the entry plug for Unit-02. She had been running some synch exercises when the first alert went off, so was ready before anyone else.

"We don't know," Ritsuko admitted on another line. She sighed softly as she continued, "The angel, whom we're calling Bardiel, seems to only be controling inorganic things, not people, but we don't know if that will continue."

"So what do we do?" Rei asked calmly, following Shinji at a good run.

"We're holding you on standby," Misato admitted as she explained, "the military has demanded we let them take a shot first."

"That's a really, really bad idea," Asuka opinioned, "what if it takes over a tank?"

"Then we end up fighting Megatron," Ken noted on another line as the young man raced to NERV. He was taking a bike along the now nearly deserted roads, having decided public transit and cars might be too dangerous.

"Geek," Shinji noted with a sigh.

"And proud of it," Ken shot back.

Ritsuko and Misato exchanged pained glances in the control room as they tried to manage the crisis. A map of Tokyo-3 was displayed on the screen, with orange splotches showing where people had been attacked by suddenly animate machines. The ones with red signaled a spot where someone died, which were increasing in frequency.

Maya Ibuki sat at her usual terminal, having bumped her new replacement temporarily. There was no way she was sitting out the emergency, even though her current job was more computer security based. "I'm trying to determine a pattern to it's actions," she noted with some frustration, "but the attacks all seem random."

Makoto nodded as he worked at his own terminal, "They're not even getting near NERV itself. They're scattered all over the place."

Misato paced irritably, not caring if anyone watched her or not. "Can we monitor the military communications?" she asked.

Aoba nodded as he said, "I'll give it a shot."

There was a hiss, then Aoba was as good as his word. In fact, he was better, taping into helmet camera feeds to bring the military's progress up on the screens for all of them to see. Sadly, it wasn't going all that well.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Leona Ozaki was a tank jock, which in Tokyo-3 was another word for 'target.' The military wasn't given much freedom to set up their own operations, and the interference from Generals who couldn't find their asses with both hands didn't help. But this time she was optimistic they could actually make a difference!

"Al!" Leona called down to her driver from her position at the gunnery controls, "Step on it! The rest of the team is gonna be there soon!"

Al was a expert in driving the scaled down tanks that Japan used, but his skills were often clouded by his feelings for his gunner. But sadly Leona seemed to have feelings for only her tank, leaving him to merely suffer in silence.

"The others have made it to the defense line, according to the tank GPS sensors," Al reported as he drove, "but radio chatter is down."

"Yamakaki, Kudo," Leona radioed ahead to the rest of the squad, "what's going on? Give me a sitrep, immediately!"

Only static answered as the tank rushed through the nearly deserted city. People had been evacuated to shelters, but the wrecks of cars sat on the sides of the road. More horrifying were the bodies, innocents torn apart by machines they had always trusted. They both tried to only look ahead, but the splashes of red were impossible to ignore.

"Still getting GPS signals," Al reported as they neared the site.

Leona scowled as she said, "Where's the canon fire? There's no way it ended this soon," Her expression became faintly worried, "What is going on?"

"I don't like the feel of this," Al said needlessly.

The location to attempt to stop the rampaging machines had been chosen near city center, in fact not far from where the Evangelions had fought the strange sphere angel. The plan had been for the tanks to lay down overwhelming firepower against the coming machines, blowing them to bits. Simple, but simple worked often enough.

The mini tank rolled forward into the open area, then the two soldiers within gaped in horror. The tank platoon was so much rubble, the massive armored vehicles broken and torn. There were bodies scattered about, torn and bleeding, and some crushed in the wreckage of their tanks.

The angel-thing crouched off to the far end of the square, a inhuman horror that bulged and shifted cancerously even as they watched. The body was bulky and strange, with multiple 'limbs' extending outward in various designs. Part of it looked mechanical, part insect like, and all of it like it was assembled by a madman.

"You...," Leona growled out, tears in her eyes as she saw the massacred remains of her comrades littering the road.

Al saw the thing rear it's head, almost like it was sniffing the air for them, and it raised one misshappen arm. Seeing what it had attached there he made a snap judgement. "Leaving now," he said, putting the tank in reverse.

"No, Al! We have to kill this thing!" Leona growled as she struggled to bring the turret around as they fled the square.

Al swung the tank around even as he asked, "Did you see that thing's arm?"

"Arm?" Leona echoed, bringing up the view magnifier on the targeting system. Her eyes widened as she took in the inhuman looking arm... that ended in several cannons ripped off their comrades' tanks. "Oh crap," she managed to get out just as it fired.

The arm jerked back wildly as it fired, but it still managed to shoot roughly in their direction. What the cannons shot weren't shells, thankfully, but instead what looked like globs of metal, mixed with the creature's substance. The material splashed against nearby walls as Al evaded wildly, thankfully avoiding a hit.

"Get on the radio," Al ordered as the guns boomed again, "we need reinforcements! Or a N2 mine, whichever!"

"Right," Leona agreed even as they watched the areas hit by the shells begin to change. It appeared the thing was infecting whatever it touched, and that was probably how it had killed their fellow tankers. She brought around the machine gun and laid down suppression fire as they fled, then activated the radio. She hoped command had some good ideas, because she was right out.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Gendo Ikari monitored the situation even as he tried to conceal his concern. The arrival of Bardiel was as predicted in the scrolls, but this manner of attack... it was completely unexpected. He felt more and more that things were going off track, but there didn't seem to be anything he could do.

Leaning forward at his desk Gendo listened to the discussion going on in the command center. He was shaken by the horrific experiences of the army, though he refused to let it show. Even here in his sanctum, he had to remain in control.

"Did Ozaki and her partner get away from it?" Misato asked as they followed the military's internal broadcasts.

"Yes," Ritsuko confirmed, "and we've received a formal request for aide."

"Too bad we don't have a plan," Misato frowned. She looked over at Ritsuko and Maya, "Do you think the idea of using a N2 mine would work?"

"It might, but this thing appears to be infectious somehow," Ritsuko said with a frown. "Unless the N2 mine completely vaporizes the entity..."

"Ir could spread it out even faster," Aoba noted.

Maya looked thoughtful a moment as she suggested, "What about the positron rifle? With some modifications it could be effective."

Gendo raised his eyebrows as the staff quickly decided Maya's suggestion was worth a try. 'Possibly I've underestimated the girl,' he mused as they set to work, 'she may bear closer observation.'

To be continued...

Notes: Wanted to rethink Bardiel a bit. Bit more of a 'horror' concept to the Angel.


	30. Launch Twenty Eight

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twenty Eight

The angel didn't function like others of it's kind had. Foolishly the Angels had followed instinct, seeking out their 'father' Adam, to achieve ascension. This angel had determined a new method of achieving it's goal, instead trying to control the entire city. It spread it's substance all over the city, like a disease of technology, and remade the machines of humanity.

The humans scurried entertainingly as they tried to escape, running on foot or foolishly trying to escape using vehicles. Only a touch from the angel was enough for it to start reshaping the cars and trucks, and it got a strange pleasure in reshaping the vehicles around the screaming humans.

Now it was pulling material together, armoring it's core in human machines to ready itself for a advance on NERV. Across the city cars, trucks, tanks and other machines came together, each one becoming a unique extension of the angel. Lumbering, powerful organic steel creatures came together, armed with re-purposed technology, then almost as one they began to move.

In the launch cages the Evangelions were each readied for launch. Shinji sat in the cockpit of Unit-01, her short hair flowing in the LCL. She turned to see Rei and Asuka in their Evangelions, and on the other side was Kensuke in Unit-04, the silvery Evangelion waiting to go.

"You ready for this, Ken?" Asuka asked him pointedly as they monitored the radio traffic on the surface. There was a lot of panicked police and military chatter coming in, but not much practical information yet.

Ken shrugged slightly as the young man answered, "Ready as I'll ever be." He paused then asked, "Do the bosses have a plan yet?"

"Working on it," Misato cut in from the bridge. "Looks like we're going to have to launch you early, however," she said.

"What's the situation?" Rei asked as they moved to the magnetic launch rails that would send them to the surface.

"Bardiel has created several metal bodies which are advancing on NERV," Misato said, "and conventional forces haven't stopped them."

"So it's up to us," Shinji said as she eased her Evangelion onto the rails."Weapons?" she asked as she braced for launch.

"I want you to use the rifles," Misato answered, "and do your best to stay out of these things reach! We still don't know if the Evangelions can be taken over too."

"Sounds fun," Asuka said dryly as the redhead braced for launch. In seconds the Evangelion squad were fired up towards the surface, to attempt to fight something unlike the other enemies they had faced before.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Gendo Ikari was disturbed as they studied the security camera feeds they were getting from out in the city, sitting just above the command crew on his observation deck slash throne. The team was readying the Evangelions for launch, even as they watched the chaos out in the city grow. "Bardiel isn't acting like the typical Angel," he noted quietly to Kozo.

"No, it isn't," Kozo agreed as the older man studied the data. "Not that there is a typical Angel anyway. They each seem to be prototypes for new lifeforms..."

"Hmm," Gendo grunted. He understood the theory that each Angel was a successor life form for humanity, and that they needed to reach Adam to replace us. Anyway, the scrolls had been frustratingly vague as to what Bardiel would be, and this was NOT what he had expected.

"We've lost vehicles, but thankfully the entity isn't absorbing buildings," Kozo noted. "I wonder why though?"

Gendo nodded as he raised his voice and asked the bridge crew, "Doctor Akagi, do we know why it isn't absorbing buildings and other large structures?"

"Mobility issues, I expect," Ritsuko admitted as she watched the Evangelion launch up into the city, "it can absorb the buildings, but then it would have to tear them up from the foundations. That would be a waste of energy."

It was a guess, but Gendo nodded, as a guess, it did make sense. He watched the screens as the four Evangelions deployed, moving out together to face the enemy. Three of them walked fairly smoothly as they each retrieved rifles, only the silvery Unit-04 moving at all awkwardly.

"Is Aida really ready for field operations?" Gendo asked flatly.

"He's better prepared than Shinji was," Misato answered dryly, getting a frown from Gendo. "Besides, I intend to not have him directly engage the enemy. Sniping and long range attacks only, this time," she shrugged.

Gendo didn't mention the old saying that plans never survived contact with the enemy. They all knew it anyway. "Miss Ibuki, status of the Positron Rifle?" he asked.

Maya looked harried but answered, "We're nearly finished. We had to recruit Jet Alone to haul it, and we've mated it with Jet Alone's reactors for power."

"Clever," Kozo muttered.

Gendo, however, did not look pleased. "I am not happy that we are allowing non-staff into NERV's sensitive areas," he said flatly.

Maya gave a surprisingly casual shrug. "I asked you, it was in the original ops plan," she met his eyes, "I though you had read it?"

Gendo opened his mouth to slap her down for disrespect, then closed it. He couldn't recall the entire plan, and it WAS possible she slipped it in there... "Very well," he said after a moment, "but we will discuss this later."

"The Evangelion have engaged the enemy," Misato announced.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

Kensuke Aida did his damndest not to let the pants wetting terror get to him, but it was hard. Up until a short time ago he had been a ordinary high school student, but now he found himself piloting a giant war machine. Of course the military otaku side of his personality was squealing with joy, but... he understood a bit better how dangerous this all was.

"Hey Shinji?" Ken asked as he pulled one of the rifles from it's storage bay in a fake building.

"Yeah?" Shinji asked as she did the same.

"Sorry for bugging you so much about the Evangelions when we first met," Ken said, readying the rifle to fire as he'd been taught in simulations.

"Sure," Shinji shrugged then asked, "What brought this on?"

"Nothing," Ken answered as they advanced on the first Bardiel-creature.

The thing shuffled up the street awkwardly, standing nearly as tall as a Evangelion. It reminded Ken oddly of his old Transformers toys, with cars and other bits wielded together to make up it's form. But unlike the toys the parts were twisted and warped together, almost like some mechanical cancer.

"Mein Gott," Asuka muttered softly, "there are people..."

Ken used the sensors on his Evangelion to 'zoom in' on the creature, then nearly choked. The thing had... pulled in cars and vehicles, as he had noted. And apparently with people inside. In the mangled mass of metal that made up it's leg he saw the broken pieces of some poor soul...

"You.. die!" Asuka yelled, clearly having been rendered incoherent with fury. She opened up with her rifle, spraying it with massive bullets, blasting away pieces of metal.

"Back her up, Ken," Shinji ordered, "Misato wants Rei and I to try to engage another one!"

"Got it," Ken agreed, stepping up beside Asuka and firing his own rifle.

The creature staggered under their fire, a leg being blown clean off as it staggered sideways. But even as their bullets damaged it it sucked up more material, pulling in street lamps and garbage cans as well as any vehicles that were still on the road. They were slowing it down, thankfully, but it wasn't stopping. And their rifles would run out of bullets some time.

Meanwhile Rei and Shinji hurried to where another one of the creatures were advancing towards the NERV Pyramid. "Why don't they just pull everything down into the Geofront?" Shinji wondered aloud.

"If we retreat behind the armor Bardiel might infect that, too," Rei said mildly. She consulted the map, "We are nearing the combat zone."

A group of police officers were raining fire on another of the Bardiels, blasting at it with light arms and delaying it a bit. They started pulling back as soon as they saw the Evangelion arrive, both opening fire as soon as they had a clear shot.

"Holy fuck," Leona Ozaki breathed out as she looked up at the giants. Not that she hadn't seen them before, but that was at a distance. Now... she was staring right up at them.

"Please clear the area," one of the Evangelions boomed.

"Let's go, Leona." Al urged her as they raced to a police car.

"Right," Leona agreed reluctantly even as she wanted to watch them blasting away. It was pretty damn impressive...

Shinji swept the rifle back and forth, while Rei tried pinpoint strikes. They did as much damage as they could, staggering the composite creature, but they barely slowed it down. Worse, it kept absorbing material to rebuild itself, doing more damage all around it.

"This isn't working," Shinji hissed.

"We just have to slow them down," Rei said as she blew the 'head' off the Bardiel, showering the street with scrap.

"Yeah, but..." Shinji started.

"Shinji, Rei!" Mana's voice boomed across their communication system, "DUCK!"

Deciding to obey that order Shinji hit the floor, Rei almost as fast. IN the space they were standing a beam of pure, raw energy blazed forth, engulfing the Bardiel creature and, apparently, vaporizing it.

"Wow," Shinji managed a moment later.

Jet Alone clanked it's way up the street, hefting the positron rifle. The weapon had been secured via a shoulder mount, but the steel robot had to be careful not to list to one side. "You guys all right?" Mana asked briskly.

"Yes, thank you," Rei said. "Do we have a plan?" she asked politely.

"Go around and use this bad boy to fry them," Mana said with a grin. "Come on, let's go rescue Asuka and Ken, then mop the rest of this up."

"Right," Shinji said, even though she was worried this wouldn't be that simple.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Leona noted from where she and Al were watching from their car.

"Life is like that sometimes," Al shrugged. He looked at her hopefully, "Wanna go grab some dinner, maybe?"

"Nah, I wanna start getting our gear repaired," Leona shrugged.

To be continued...


	31. Launch Twenty Nine

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies

Launch Twenty Nine

"What's the situation?" a visibly tired Gendo Ikari asked. He, along with the rest of the staff had been up most of the night as the battle raged on out in the city, and the exhaustion was starting to show.

"The Bardiel contagion has apparently been cleansed, though NERV will continue to closely monitor reports from the city," Ritsuko said tiredly. "Tokyo-3 suffered significant damage from the angel's material assimilation ability, and civilian casualties were high," she added. Personally she expected him not to care about the last bit, but she felt the need to have it on record anyway.

Gendo indeed seemed rather uncaring as he said, "I understand the military suffered heavy losses?" He smiled slightly as he noted, "Hopefully they will listen to us next time."

Ritsuko did her best to drive away the urge to slap that smirk off his face, but it was hard. "You might want to watch the helmet cams of the attack," she said stiffly, "you might find it enlightening."

Gendo didn't react to the snipe, instead continuing, "As I understand it, there have also been losses at the school the First uis attending. If there have been losses to potential pilots, please adjust our data accordingly."

'Oh hell,' Ritsuko thought, mentally praying it wasn't any of Shinji or the other's friends. They had enough stress to deal with. "I'll check into it," she promised.

Not much later Misato was visiting the school, along with Ritsuko. "Why do I have to go along?" Misato complained.

"Moral support," Ritsuko said dryly. "Besides I want us to look in on Shinji and the others too," she added.

"Did we get confirmation on losses?" Misato had to ask.

"There are still a lot of people missing," Ritsuko hedged before adding, "but losses are estimated at over 500 people, NOT counting the missing."

"And if we add those in?" Misato had to ask.

"Over a 1000," Ritsuko sighed.

The principal of the school was a older man, mostly bald and visibly worned down by the passage of years. Still, he greeted them firmly and waved them to two chairs. "You probably won't hear this too often," he said, "but thank you. You and your pilots may have saved a lot of lives."

"Thank you," Ritsuko nodded.

"May not hear it often?" Misato echoed questioningly.

"There is a lot of anger out there from people who lost friends and family," he answered gravely, "most of which is aimed at the Angels. But there is also anger directed at NERV."

"Understandable, really," Ritsuko sighed tiredly, "they wouldn't be targets if they weren't here."

"Please don't give them more ammo, Rits," Misato said, elbowing her in the side.

"Anyway, I understand you'll need access to our files," the principal continued, "that has been cleared, as usual."

"Thank you," Misato stopped to shake his hand before they left.

"Nurse's office," Ritsuko lead the way as they covertly peeked into classrooms.

The school hadn't exactly been packed before the crisis, with the decline in population after Second Impact. Half full rooms, sometimes less, were the norm. Now, however there were classes with just one or two kids, sitting awkwardly as the teachers talked.

"Holy shit," Misato muttered as they walked by, "I hope the parents just kept their kids home, or something."

"Me too," Ritsuko agreed.

**0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0**

"Where is everyone?" Shinji muttered as she, Asuka and Rei headed into class. Mana was off running checks on Jet Alone, which was rather annoying Why did she get to avoid classes? It wasn't fair. Kan was apparently skipping school too, though he had checked in with NERV about some kind of family thing.

"A lot of kids were kept home, I think," Asuka answered with a frown. Still, there shouldn't have been THAT many empty seats. Right?

Several students straggled in over the day, surprisingly including Hikari Horaki. The brown haired girl in pigtails looked visibly upset, and was unable to concentrate on the teacher. Instead she just stared out the window and fidgetted.

"We should ask if her family is all right," Rei said as the three pilots met at lunch.

"We might be intruding," Shinji shook her head.

:Idiots," Asuka growled, getting up and walking to where Hikari sat. "Is everything all right?" she bluntly asked the girl.

Hikari smiled weakly, "No, not really. My family is fine, thankfully, but Toji..."

"What happened?" Shinji asked worriedly.

"His sister Sakura is missing," Hikari said quietly, "She didn't turn up at the shelters during the attack, and she's not answering her phone."

Rei exchanged worried looks with Shinji. "That's where Ken and Toji are," she realized, "they are out helping with the search."

Hikari nodded glumly. "I would be too, but I thought someone should at least show up to tell the teacher why they were absent," she explained.

Asuka cursed in German then muttered, "We should be out there helping search."

Shinji hesitated, then she nodded. "You're right," she agreed, then walked over to where the teacher was tiredly grading papers.

"Yes?" he sighed tiredly as Shinji walked up. It took a few minutes, but Shinji managed to get him to see reason. The class was dismissed for 'independant study' and the teens hurried out to go join in the search.

"What did you say to him?" Hikari had to ask.

Shinji shrugged as she said, "I just pointed out that with half the class away for whatever reason, we would all have to redo the lesson anyway. So why not just let us go and review the stuff later on?"

"Not bad," Asuka clapped her on the back, then looked at Hikari. "Okay, where's the search based? No point wandering around randomly."

"Near Toji's apartment, though there's a lot of groups searching," Hikari sighed.

"Wonder if we can get NERV involved?" Shinji wondered quietly, but Rei shook her head no. Apparently she knew it was unlikely.

They ended up at the search organizers base not long afterward, where a lot of adults and a few teens were either coming in or going out again to search. A note board had been set up, and areas around the tower were marked out in sections, marked to show if they had been searched or not.

"Hey," Toji looked tired as the dark brown haired boy greeted them, "you skipped class too?"

"We didn't skip," Hikari told him with a exasperated smile, "we were excused." She put a hand gently n the taller boy's arm, "Any news?"

"Nothing yet," Toji sighed. He nodded to the others "Thanks for coming, but..."

"Yeah?" Asuka asked as he hesitated.

"You should know we found some bodies out there," Toji said quietly. "The police are helping, but you may see some unpleasant stuff."

Shinji gulped but nodded. "There's missing people out there who's families want them home," she said, "it would be wrong not to help."

"Hmm," Rei nodded.

Teams spread out through the afternoon, trying to cover as much ground as possible while being careful enough to check everywhere. Not easy, but they did their best. There were army officers and cops out too, and sadly little heavy lifting equipment.

"Oh damn," Asuka muttered, then added some German curses too.

Leona took a blanket and covered the crushed little boy. "Fuck," she agreed tiredly.

"I saw the footage of you and you teams trying to fight the angels," Asuka noted tiredly as they waited for the body recovery team to arrive, "you were very brave."

"We had no idea what we were getting into," Leona sighed, the tank jock stretching tiredly. "At least you guys killed the damn things."

"Mana killed the damn things," Asuka noted admiringly She was actually pretty proud of her roommate toasting those things.

A few minutes later the body was recovered, then they moved on looking through the wreckage. Everyone was getting dusty and dirty from digging around through the wreckage, but they carried on regardless.

Nearby, Ken tuned out Al bitching about his boss Leona not paying attention to him as the young man searched and worried. He had gotten a summary of another timeline from his alternate self as well as a 'crib sheet' of data. It wasn't complete, of course, but it had a lot of information. But this battle against Bardiel hadn't been in it AT ALL.

'Has our timeline totally diverged from his?' Ken wondered as they walked, 'And if so, how? And would it matter?'

"Hey, I hear something," Al cut off his bemoaning about Leona loving her tank more than him.

"Me too," Ken agreed as he moved near a section of fallen wall. "Hello!" he called as loudly as he could.

"Oh thank god," a female voice replied, "part of the roof collapsed on me!"

"Hold still," Al said, "we'll get help."

It took a few minutes to get the pros in, in which Ken found out that yes, it was indeed Sakura and that she had been hurt, too. Heavy equipment was brought in, even as Toji and his father fretted nearby. It was delicate work, getting the concrete aside without hurting Sakura any more, but in the end they managed it.

"Looks like we have a happy ending, maybe," Shinji noted as Sakura was pulled out, her family rushing forward to hug her.

"Sort of," Asuka noted, "her leg is a wreck... but at least she's alive."

To be continued...


End file.
